Going Home
by Minty S
Summary: Aradia Vadin has lived in the new dimension all her life. Now, the generals have confirmed Tachyon is dead and was killed by a young lombax her age... Ratchet and OC. First fanfic! Constructive Criticism greatly appreciated!
1. High School Drama

**Ok, first fanfic! Yay! Just so everyone knows, this chapter is just to see if anyone likes the story. It isn't meant to be interesting yet… and it's not meant to be a high school drama. Just starts out like one… **

**This is a redo of my recently uploaded chapter. Thx goes to Tina Tissue for pointing a few things out!**

**I need constructive criticism… badly… **

**Lombaxes are made and owned by Insomniac. **

"Ok class, listen up!" yelled a crème coloured lombax in a long, typical science lab coat. She leaned on her desk and looked around the class with a frightful eye and slowly walked towards a young blue male lombax asleep on his desk. She then pulled out a long ruler from her pocket and hit his desk with a loud _thump_, jolting the boy awake.

"That includes you Griddo," She leaned forwards and gave him one of her legendary stares.

Sweating slightly, Griddo smiled cheekily." I'm awake Ms Jasin." He said quietly.

"Good."

She started circling the desk. I was at the back, as usual, quietly awaiting the lesson and wondering why Ms Jasin seemed so eager to talk. My imaginative and curious lombax mind was buzzing with good and bad thoughts. She _hated_ our class. Scratch that, she hated our generation in general. How could I blame her? The fashion these days is dyeing your fur fluoro. I am proud to be my natural golden colour.

"Guess what we're talking about today class," she said with a devilish grin. "Now this is something that none of you have seen, but, I hope one day you will."

A murmur went through the classroom as she started preparing the holo-projector. Naturally everyone was curious as to why the usually cranky Ms Jasin was smiling, even if it was an evil smile. My stomach lurched at the idea of some crazy final year experiment for us grade 15's. According to history books, the grading system use to only go to year 12… Stupid engineering reputation…

My thoughts went back to the class at the sound of Ms Jasin humming while the holo- projector turned on. I giggled inside a bit. It was strange for us, having a happy Ms Jasin. Something told me this was either going to be an amazing talk, or something absolutely horrifying.

The holo-projector started up, and the image on the screen in front of us made the whole class, even the lombaxes that hated science gaped in wonder and amazement. The image itself couldn't have been real. It was like a black canvas covered with sparkling silver glitter. My hands began to fidget nervously as I wondered what it was and why Ms Jasin showed it to us.

Ms Jasin herself was looking around the class fairly amused. She waited a while to let the image sink into our heads before continuing.

"Class," she said. "Can someone tell me what this is?"

A green lombax with rectangular glasses, raised his hand. "Marcus," said Ms Jasin

"I think my guess is as good as everyone else's," he explained. "But, is it a black canvas with silver glitter on it?"

This made the class burst out laughing, including myself. Everyone must have been thinking the same thing. Ms Jasin must have picked up on it because she joined in on our laughter.

"No Marcus, but good try. This class is a star cluster, they existed in our home dimension," she replied, her eyes saddening.

This silenced the class. No one knew much about our home dimension, except the lombaxes who use to live there, of course. I heard the home dimension was a big round thing called a 'planet', which is very different from the floating rock I have grown up on. There were many other 'planets' that you could travel to and you could learn about each unique planet.

After a moment of silence, a thought came to my mind and I raised my hand in a failed attempt to ease the tension. I hated tension.

"Yes, Aradia," said Ms Jasin, her eyes not meeting mine.

"If that is a star cluster, then is one of those sparkling things a star? If that's the case, then what is a star?" I asked. The tension eased and we went back to the lesson.

Ms Jasin pulled herself together and, gratefully, answered my questions.

"Well done, Aradia for pointing that out to the class. Yes, one of those sparkling things is a star. A star is a giant ball of gas that has collected things, such as moon rock and raritanium, over the course of millions of years," she explained as the scientist within her came out. Everyone else scrambled for their paper and pens and quickly took messy notes.

"A star can be seen from every planet, moon, asteroid and floating space rock. There are no known stars in this dimension."

An annoying tune was then heard. It sounded more like a mobile phone but this annoying tune was our school bell. The principal had bad taste.

"Must be a shortened lesson today…" muttered Ms Jasin. "In that case, class dismissed." She signalled with a shooing motion.

I quickly got my things together before heading out the class. I have never had a class with so much tension before…

….

In the home dimension, there were many different schools and universities where a lombax could have their education. Each school was ranked at a certain level in different career areas and the average lombax had to try and get into the best high school possible for their chosen field of study.

That's what my history books say…

This day and age there is one primary school, one high school and one university throughout the _whole_ dimension. And because of this I have to bump into multi-coloured lombaxes every day and attempt to not stand out. This is tough when you're the only one who is not fluoro and especially when your within eye range of the lovely Priscilla Deveron. With all her fashionable clothes, such as sky high heels and her short slutty yellow dress covered in expensive pins, and her bright pink fur, the same colour as her hair, that has changed colour more times then I care to count.

Naturally, she was glaring evilly at me along with her multi-coloured cohorts as I tried to quietly make my way through the crowded halls of Kaden High, supposably named after an intelligent hero. I wasn't far from the exit… and then she walked over.

I slightly quickened my pace and pretended that I hadn't noticed her. That's when I felt her hand on my shoulder.

"Going somewhere, Aradia? You're looking bland as always," she said. Her voice sounded like honey, thick and sweet with a slight taste of evil. She turned me around and made me look her in the eye

"I have to get home," I told her bluntly and tried to turn back towards the door, only to meet the faces of her cohorts.

"You say that every afternoon. Don't you have a life?" she asked. Her cohorts all glared at me in unison. I swear they'll be great on the synchronised swim team.

"Sure, I do. I have several. You can borrow one, but, make sure you bring it back tomorrow. I collect them you know," I told her sarcastically. Judging from the fumes coming out of her head, I take it she didn't like that comeback very much. Inside, I did a little victory dance.

"Just because you have brains doesn't mean you should use them," she retorted. She swayed her hips to the side showing off her attitude.

"Then what are they meant for? Look, I don't have time for this. I really got to go," and having said that, I turned my back on them and left. What a great way to end a day of school.

I rushed out on the sandy street and began walking home. One of my hands found its way to my dark brown hair. It made me think. Was I really bland? I admit, I'm a science freak with way big an interest in engineering. I refused to dye my fur or get contacts to change the colour of my light blue eyes. Did this make me bland?

….

Home was as it usually was. It was pretty, I guess, with white walls and no windows, as defence from the desert heat, and beautiful desert flowers covering the garden in front of it. Mum really out did herself when she designed this place. I felt nervous; I had a question that I wanted to ask my parents tonight. Something I never dared asked. In fact, I think this question has become taboo in my generation as a whole.

Walking in I heard the cry of my little brother, Javen, running around pretending to shoot at evil forces. Note to self: avoid the living room.

"Aradia, knock before you come in!" yelled a feminine voice from the kitchen. Smelled like Lyncha worms… again… On this floating desert rock, it's the only meat you will find. Makes me wonder what lombaxes _use _to eat.

"Hi, Mum!" I called back. I dumped my bag near the door, as is the standard procedure, before hearing something that I shouldn't have been hearing until seven that night. Dad's hovercar has just parked outside. He's _never _home early…

Few moments passed and a golden lombax, with black stripes, walked in through the front door. His face looked hardened as if something bad had happened. My father was General Vadin, a three bolt official in the council; he has to deal with the occasional man-eating snakes that come by every now and again. He leads the forces against them and cleans the leftovers up. That, and he is constantly filling out paper work. He is _never_ home early.

My father's eyes seemed distant; I might have to leave that question for another night.

"Hey, Dad!" I greeted trying to break the tension for the second time today. I smiled, to aid my cause.

He looked at me and returned the smile. "Aradia, I need you to give your science teacher something for me. She goes by the name of Ms Jasin. It's vital you get it to her. Kay?"

"Sure, "I replied.

My dad then pulled out an envelope from his back pocket and handed it to me.

"Makes sure she gets in ASAP," he said sternly.

That was when we heard the traditional 'Dinner's ready!' from mum. Dad walked slowly into the kitchen while I stood there, looking at the envelope addressed to our science teacher, with the Praetorian Guard's symbol on it.

**Is it okay? It's short, but I think it's okay for my first chapter. Ratchet will appear later on in the story and Priscilla will become more important later on…**

**The note will also contain an added shocker…**

**Hope you liked it so far!**


	2. Ms Jasin?

**Here is chapter two! Hope you guys like it. I'm attempting to slowly fade this story out of the high school drama mode… hopefully…**

**Thx goes to Cyberthief, Tina Tissue, TheEspadaSisters and KiwiLombax15 for the reviews on chapter 1!**

**Constructive criticism greatly appreciated! **

**Lombaxes are owned by Insomniac**

It was almost 5 in the morning, and I barely slept. The letter had me intrigued. Why? Why would my science teacher have anything to do with the guard? Why was such an important document given to a teenager?

Must not be that important. Maybe she forgot to hand in some paperwork in or something minor like that…

Deep down though, I had a much more sickening feeling.

That letter was a serious issue. Maybe it's one of those death letters. When there is confirmation that a lombax in the home dimension is dead… I shuddered.

Reasons to give such a document to a teenager... There couldn't be anything else.

For the sake of Ms Jasin, I hoped she was unorganised for once…

Knowing there was no way I was going to sleep; I hopped out of bed and headed for the bathroom. I really needed to freshen up before going to school. I had to be careful though; the floors creaked like anything due to the home cooling technology under it. I didn't want my family to wake up and then have to face my mother's fury.

The bathroom sink was a calming idea. I needed to think this through in case Ms Jasin burst into tears when she opened the envelope. I needed to brace myself for the worse and I didn't want to end up crying in front of my peers. What better way to clear my mind then with freezing cold water?

I walked into the clear white bathroom and lightly balanced myself on the sink. I glanced up and saw my reflection glanced back at me.

And that's when I thought of something completely off topic.

_Am I really that bland?_

….

Breakfast soon arrived and I was at the table with my father (as usual) and my brother was bounding around the place (as usual). My father seemed really uneasy at breakfast. His usually calm eyes were darting left and right and his right hand kept brushing over that shotgun in his belt. Even my bossy mother seemed quieter than usual. Usually she would be screaming holy hell at my brother and me to get ready for school. She wasn't even complaining over the fact that I'm wearing a short purple skirt and a denim jacket to school. (Over my usual white shirt, of course). How I got away with it? I don't know.

While mum was dealing with my brother in the lounge, my father and I were left alone in the kitchen. He calmly reading the newspaper and sipping a cup of Gligar root tea. That's when I asked my dad a question that kept me up last night.

"Daddy," I said innocently, grabbing his attention.

He looked at me funny, knowing I was up to something, and raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" He asked, with a tone that seemed to be as confused as his face.

"Why is a message from the guard being delivered by a teenager?" I asked quietly. Blinking a few times for extra measure, when I need info from my dad I just played the part of daddy's little girl. Hasn't failed yet!

He sighed. Knowing he was defeated, then answered the question in a calming tone. "That science teacher of yours has hated the guard since she came to this dimension." I looked at him with quizzing look. "You, being a smarty pants science student, are one of the few who she may actually _accept _and _read_ a letter from with the guard's symbol on it. You even have a chance of her _forgiving_ you…"

Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. He was willing to let my grades drop to get a piece of paper to my science teacher. Lovely…

He sighed… again. "Just play dumb and act like you know nothing about the guard and you will be fine," he said, waving a hand in the air to add emphasis to the sentence.

I leaned my head to the side and smiled sweetly. "What guard?" I said innocently.

My dad gave a cocky smiled, shook his head and muttered, "That's my girl."

…..

School was as it usually was. With crowded hallways, doodles on the walls and multi coloured lombaxes. I can't stand any Lombax that doesn't have their natural fur colour, which was all of them. Except one, and it works for him because he is gay. His name is Hidan. He is very easy to find. Just stand at the front entrance of the school and pretend to look for him.

"MORNING ARADIA!" screamed a lime green lombax. He was running through the hallways to give me one of his legendary bear hugs. Hidan was gay, yes, but the awesome type of gay when they embrace their sexuality. Therefore, he never gets teased about it because he's never admitted he was gay while in a relationship with a girl. So, all girls respect him and guys try to respect him. Yep, he's awesome.

"Hey Danni…" I squeaked. "Breathing…"

He quickly dropped me and began to fuss. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you badly…" and I zoned out until he calmed down, then laughed.

"What?" he asked, now looking confused.

"Nothing," I told him through a stack of giggles. "What's first?" We shared the exact same timetable as our classes are the same this year, makes the last year so much easier.

"Omniversal," he said bluntly. "You know the useless yet romantic language class?"

He hit it on the dot. Apparently it was custom to be fluent in the Omniversal tongue in the old dimension. It has such a smooth and strong sound to it that you could just listen to the teacher speak it all day. **(Think of a mix between Russian, Italian and French)**That said teacher (a lady by the name of Mrs Olden) has declared it is worse when you get someone who actually has the accent right. Makes a hormonal girl wonder what the accent actually sounds like… Makes me wonder if I should stop wondering about this particular language…

"That's great!" I told him. Then I remembered the envelope. Hidan gave me a look that clearly said '_spill it'_. So, me being me, I spilled it, with sprinkles.

"I need to see Ms Jasin about paperwork," I told him, enough information to be truthful, and enough information to be deceitful.

He stopped giving me the look and sighed. (What is it with people sighing at me today). "Go now while you have time. Class doesn't start for another 20 minutes. I'll save you a seat." He flicked his tail towards the science labs. "You know she never leaves F block."

"Thx, Danni. You're awesome!" I told him before quickly running down the hallway.

I bet you any money he was shaking his head depressingly with a look of mourning in his eyes as if I Ms Jasin had already killed me.

…..

Ms Jasin's lab was easy to find. Just look for a door that looks as if it has been blown off more times than it should have been. I had the envelope in my hand and was holding it as if it was my death sentence. Because, technically, that's what it was.

I took a deep breath. Ms Jasin wouldn't _literally_ kill me. She just has a tendency to blow off at my particular year group… With that thought in mind, I knocked.

"Who is it!" yelled the rather annoyed voice of Ms Jasin. She must have been sleeping…

"It's Aradia, mam!" I quietly spoke back. My hands were starting to shake now. _Get a grip Aradia! She is just a teacher!_

The door opened and Ms Jasin leaned up against the doorway. She didn't appear as annoyed as I expected her to be. Luck seemed to be on my side today.

"What is it," she grumbled, giving me a cold hard stare. The one she gave every student that came to her door.

I pushed the envelope in towards her and murmured, "Dad said to give this to you. He said it was important." I looked down at the ground and let her look at it.

She looked down at the letter in my hands. Her gaze softened after a while and she took a deep breath. "Come on in," she said, gesturing with her head and walked back inside. I followed obediently.

I have never actually been into Ms Jasin's lab before. As far as I'm aware no one has been. It was like a normal lab. Coloured formula's bubbled in glass tubes. Strange chemicals were stored in glass containers on the shelves, all neatly lined up and labelled in alphabetical order. The blackboard near her desk was covered in formulas and diagrams. Her desk was covered in papers, mathematical equipment, strange objects and lots of pens and pencils. But the one thing that struck me most was the picture on the desk. It was an older picture, no doubt, but in it was a younger Ms Jasin, a handsome, dark orange male lombax in a high ranking engineering uniform, stood next to her with his arm around her. They were both lovingly looking down at; my heart skipped a beat, a baby boy, asleep in Ms Jasin's arms. The boy had features from both Ms Jasin and the other lombax. He had the other lombaxes face and Ms Jasin's fur colour.

I looked up to Ms Jasin and (thankfully) noticed that she appeared to be looking spaced out and didn't mind me looking around her territory.

She breathed in again. "Pass it here," she whispered. Her eyes maintaining their distance look. I gave her the letter, glad to have the annoying thing away from me. Holding on to it with both of her hands, she stared at it for a few moments before hesitantly opening it up and taking the letter out. She began to shake, like I had earlier.

"Aradia," she said, keeping the letter upside down. I looked up at her. "You're a lucky student, being able to keep your head on straight in the company of the idiotic generation you were born into."

I gaped at her in wonder and amazement. Was she praising me?

"I need someone to be with me when I read this. Aradia, I want you to promise me that whatever my reaction, you won't tell anyone what happened here. Not your father, not Hidan. It stays in this room. Can I hold you to that?" Her voice sounded helpless and desperate as tears began to form in her eyes.

It had been a death letter.

I slowly nodded. "I promise," I whispered.

She flipped over the letter. I gazed at her face for the long moments it took her to read it. A tear ran down her face as her gaze went halfway down the paper, her breathing starting to go heavy. I felt so sorry for her, she looked so helpless. For those few moments, I saw the real Ms Jasin. The really strict, science teacher that is the cause of fear to most other lombaxes in my generation, the woman holding the baby. She was starting to sob.

But, what happened next shocked me more than what I could ever imagine. Her face, once looking as if she just witnessed a murder, changed drastically into something that appeared to be a mix between absolute happiness and shock horror.

She then yelled, tears of happiness now falling down her cheeks, "How the hell did he survive!"

**There you have it! Chapter 2!**

**A little bit longer than chapter one, I think it flows better too.**

**Next chapter, Who is he? **

**Constructive criticism greatly appreciated! **


	3. Who's 'he?

**Chapter 3! I'm quite proud of myself!**

**Is it too fast? To highschoolly?**

**Constructive criticism greatly appreciated! *bow***

**Lombaxes are owned by Insomniac**

Beautiful sentences could be heard coming from the mouth of Mrs Olden as I sat in Omniversal. Hidan was next to me knowing something was up, but kept quiet. The Omniversal classroom was as it alway's was. Posters hang from the wall with the language scribbled all over it, all the wooden desks lined up in three rows of two seats and Mrs Olden at the front. I usually loved Omniversal; I could understand every word coming from Mrs Olden's mouth. Yet, no amount of this passionate language could get the image of Ms Jasin out of my head.

When she finished the letter she looked so ecstatic! She was genuinely happy! I have never seen her like that! It's weird enough for her to be smiling evil smiles. The only hint I got to even explain the sudden change of behaviour was the short sentence, 'How the hell did he survive!' My scientific brain could only conclude that a Lombax, whoever 'he' is, is actually managing to survive alone in the home dimension.

Right after she yelled that out, Ms Jasin just hushed me out the room quickly as if it never happened. What was strange about it was the fact she did it _gently_ and that I walked out the classroom actually alive. Something was wrong with Ms Jasin.

"Вот почему Vogliamo ora paix et d'amour, alla fine," concluded Mrs Olden. _That's why we now desire peace and love, the end. _Ending the famous story about two lombax brothers fighting a famous war now called Alla fine. Meaning the end. A great story for how I'm feeling at the moment.

The annoying bell rang out, great timing! I humed to the tune for first time ever, Hidan noticed this and glared at me.

"Get moving," said Mrs Olden. Waving at the class to get out.

The class hurried out. Priscilla was going on about how she dreamed that a romantic commando, who spoke fluent omniversal, would one day carry her away in a mythical hovercraft. I laughed inwardly until Hidan, clinging to my arm, drag me out of the classroom and made a beelined to my locker. Once there, he unhooked my arm and said flat out. "What happened with Ms Jasin?"

My thoughts instantly went to the promise I made her. I couldn't tell him anything... So I gave him the honest truth. "I gave her some paperwork, not much," I mumbled

The look he gave me clearly said 'I know your not being completely honest with me'. Ms Jasin's blow offs were legendary. The worst ones just so happen to be aimed at my generation. She has been known to make the sports captain cry and she wouldn't need to lay a finger on him. Hidan saw that particular blow off and hasn't liked Ms Jasin much since. He asked again, "What was her reaction after you gave her the paper?"

I looked at the ground. Trying to pretend that everything was normal. So, being the idiot I was, I said, "Lovely weather were having today..."

"Aradia!" Hidan wasn't going to let off. He picks up on anything and everything, particulary when someone has something they need to get off their chest. There was no way he would stay off.

I looked around, no one was watching. I leaned in and whispered in his ear, 'I'll tell you at the 'spot''. Hidan nodded. I leaned back and looked at him dead in the eye.

"If you tell a soul, your life won't be worth living once I'm through with you!" I pointed at his chest and glared at him, making sure he clearly understod.

He rolled his eyes and sarcastically stated, "In other words, Ms Jasin will kill you if word leaks out."

I dangerously nodded back and then said something extremely obvious, "Let's get to the 'spot'!"

...

The 'spot' was a little area under the stands in the gym. No one hangs out under there due to preference of watching the basketball players pratice. Very private. No one likes listening to conversations spoken in nerd. Can't say I blame them.

We were sitting in our normal spot against the gym wall, the sound of cheering girly girls could be heard above us. Screaming holy hell...

Hidan gave me a knowing glance and bluntly demanded, "Spill it!"

I spilled, I needed someone to know and Hidan wasn't the type to gossip. If there was anyone I trusted wth my life, it was him. I told him everything, about Ms Jasin, the photo on her desk, the death letter and the mysterious 'he'.

Hidan was in shock when he heard about 'he'. "So some Lombax is alive and thriving in the home dimension? I thought that place was a barren wasteland! " he explained.

"That's my point!" I told him, "That 'Some Lombax' is related to Ms Jasin. She was practically in tears for half the letter!"

Hidan looked at me curiously, "Which means?" he asked.

"Which means either the guy _or_ the baby from the photo is dead and the other has been living in the Home Dimension for the past 21 years!" I said it slowly to let it sink in to him.

I stared at him for a few short moments before his eyes were wide with shock. My whole generation has been raised to fear the home dimension. Ever since Hidan and I could remember we have been told stories of violent robots called 'pirates' that would kill you without a second thought, giant monsters named laviathans that kill anything in sight and worst of all were stories of a species called Craigmites that seeked nothing but extinction and harm on lombaxes. If those stories were real... I shivered.

"Poor guy, probably knows no better..." murmured Hidan. "Are they planning to go get him? He can't be much older than us..."

There were a few more moments of silence between, until I realized what he said. I looked up and gaped at him.

"You think the _baby_ survived!" I said in shock horror. My body went still with shock and I just looked at him as if he was absolutely nuts.

Now he looked at me as if I was absolutely nuts. "It makes sense, " he explained. " A father acting as a distraction or fighting to the death after he sent his son away in one those old escape pods." He made a dome like motion with his hands for visual effect. "I mean, there's no way a father would leave his son behind to die, let alone put him out of his sight _unless_ he knew the baby was safe. Think about it Aradia. If one of those two in the photo is alive _today_ then it's more likely to be baby! Because there would be no way a father would let his son _die_ before him."

I looked at Hidan now, really looked at him. He was right. A father would want to die before his son.I had no idea that Hidan was into all this morale stuff, but when you think of it like that, there's no other way. It would also explain the shock in Ms Jasin's voice when she finished the letter.

"True," I said sadly. He must have been put threw hell, whatever made our species leave was there with him.

I looked at Hidan, his screwed up face telling me he was in 'hard thinking mode'. He was thinking of something, something bad.

"Hidan? What's up?" I asked him.

He didn't turn to look at me. "My dad, you know how he's an engineer for the guard? He was home really early looked grim. I over heard what he was saying to my mum, it was in Omniversal so I didn't get everything, but it was something about 'checking out' something and something about craigmites and something called a 'Percivel Tachyon'. I don't know what or who it is, but the words came up in conversation quite a bit. There was also something about something or someone killing it."

I looked at him funny. "That's awful lot of 'something's'."

Then the stupid bell went.

...

My classes went by like a blur. Nothing interesting. What _was _interesting was hearing that Priscilla went into tears after her boyfriend, the netball captain by the name of Kilaven, announced he was gay. Poor Priscilla, everyone knows netball is a girl's sport. He even dyed his fur _princess pink_ for crying out loud! It is because of these situation Hidan has a-lot of respect.

I was leaning on my locker, watching a cluster of fluoro try and comfort a sobbing Priscilla. I didn't know if I should be glad that I wouldn't be bothered by them this afternoon or if I should feel sorry for her.

"Oh, Prissy it's not your fault!" said a yellow girl by the of Stara.

"It's not like he's just cheated on you or that he's a jerk or something bad like that," said a purple girl called Lilacra. "These things happen and he was honest with you."

Stara put hand on Priscilla's shoulder. "Yeah, there's more sand in the desert."

I rolled my eyes. This very scene happened last month when she broke up with Krey, the hockey captain, after he cheated on her with Humali, a olive coloured freshman. I swear this group has just become my favourite soap opera! Much more entertaining than The Reckless and the Careful.

I sighed and walked out the front doors in a slowish pace. Once outside, I saw a certain princess pink lombax. Leaning up against a lampost, without his usual bunch of friends, looking rather sorry for himself. Well, they are nortiously jerks so I don't think it's a surprise.

I wasn't going to leave him there. So I ran up to him.

"Hey! Kilaven!" I called out.

He looked up in a state of panic, saw me, and then angrily said, "What do _you_ want?"

I looked up at him and smiled. "I heard what you did today, "I said. His ears flattened as if he was lost. "That was very brave of you." His ears pricked up and his face lifted a little. I bet he wasn't expecting _that_.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said. My smile growing wider. "If you need help, talk to Hidan about it. He will be able to give you some advice."

He glanced away, "Thx..." he murmured. Slightly blushing. Poor guy... Priscilla should have at least supported him through this and then she goes and cries about herself. Some girlfriend.

"No prob," I replied. "See ya!"

And with that I turned around and headed up the street. Unkown to me, there was another pink Lombax watching me run off, and it wasn't Kilaven.

...

I was at the dinner table, with my family. Dad and I were quietly eating dinner while my brother played with his. Mum was in bed with a migraine. Everyone was unhappy today... Except Ms Jasin. Which is very strange...

"Dad, can I play now?" whined Javen. Slightly bouncing up and down in his seat. My little brother was the most impatient person alive.

Dad nodded, "Just don't tell your mother I'm letting you play half an hour before bed," he said.

Grinning from ear to ear, my brother ran upstairs into his room. Muttering something about Captain Long Ears. I inwardly chuckled, he was so cute!

I looked at my dad. For the second day in a row he was home early, something was wrong with the guard. And it had something to do with this 'he' figure.

"Dad," I murmured, grabbing his attention. I guess I was quieter than usual but, I needed to know, and maybe dad will tell me. "What's going on?"

My father seemed to pale. His eyes grew slightly cloudy and distant, might not have been the best question to ask. He turned and looked at me in the eye. "Do you really want to know, Aradia?" he asked.

I nodded back. I was as curious as any Lombax, just not as open about it.

He sighed, and began told me. "Before we came to this dimension... there was a craigmite. This craigmite was the reason why we came here." He gestured to his surroundings. "He had an army, a very powerful army he made using our stolen technology. We never stood a chance." He sighed again.

So that's way we came to this dimension. I gave him my 'eagar to learn more' look and he continued.

"Your science teacher, Ms Jasin, was married to a very intelligent Lombax by the name Kaden Jasin. He was the Keeper of the Dimensionator. The device that got us into this dimension and saved our lives."

My eyes must have widened as I gaped at my dad. Ms Jasin won the heart of Kaden? I never knew his last name, but he was legendary. The lengendary Lombax who stayed behind for our sake.

He continued, "Now, we have only just learnt that Kaden was brutally tortured and murdered by this craigmite a few weeks _after_ we left."

I looked at my dad in shock horror, the tears on Ms Jasin's face were genuine, she was reading about how her husband died. No wonder she's always bitter..

"You know those trackers embedded in your skin? The ones that activate when you bcome of age?" he asked.

I nodded. Simple saftey procedures we learn about in school, they activate when you become of age and deactivate when you die. During wartime, it gives an indicator on who is alive, missing or beyond help.

"One of those, with the embedded code of Kaden's son, has just been activated,"he explained. No way... I shook my head, that couldn't have happened after 21 years with a craigmite on the loose. No wonder the shock on Ms Jasin's face.

"This boy, is possibly the only Lombax left in that dimension. Chances are he has never met another Lombax and if he has it has only been a one or two." He sighed, "What's happening is that a team of us Generals, a few engineers and a few medics are going to go out to bring him here if it is still dangerous, or move everyone back there if it is safe. Chances are this boy will be a gladiator of sorts and will not hesitate to kill if threatened." He gave me a sad smile, I knew what it meant. They wanted to recruit him, bring him into the guard, where he will be invaluble and safe.

"We just need something of common ground, something he can relate to and encourage him to come with us and that's what the tension is about. Because we can't find that ground and we won't go until we find it," He whispered

**BTW, the language used for Omniversal is literally bits of Russian, Italian and French!**

**I think the story a bit fast, but works. Please review! **

**Guess what the common ground is!**

**Next chapter- Common Ground (bit obvious...)**


	4. Common Ground

**This chapter is more of a 'phase into next phase' kind of thing. Nothing overly exciting happens, just the info before the all the exciting stuff. The info itself might be interesting though.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed!**

**I do not own Ratchet and Clank, there universe or Lombaxes!**

The words my father said clung to my mind all through the night and into early morning. _He will not hesitate to kill if threatened… _How could they bring him back? There was no way they could find common ground with someone who has experienced the pain and suffering that he must have gone through for the past 21 years! He may be more skilled then the generals, with the amount he must have fought… I shivered.

For some odd reason, the ceiling was offering great comfort as I gazed into a sea of nothing. Trying to clear my mind of the horrid thoughts running through my head, instead, I got a more depressing image. Something I wish I didn't think. What if it had the opposite effect on him? What if instead of becoming a cold killer he became a traumatised young adult, or someone so scared of everything that he struggles through each day as if it was a living nightmare? What if he just wanted peace?

What if he just wanted love or a family?

It was a sad thought. Being alone… With no one you could trust.

I needed to keep my mind off of this. It wasn't an issue that concerned me. It was between the guard and Ms Jasin and _him_, no matter how he turned out.

I tried to turn my thoughts to something more stupid and teenage like. Example, _Am I bland?_ Ever since Priscilla has called me that it keeps coming back to my mind. I've never been worried about my appearance before, at least, not my fur colour. I've been proud of it… but…

I'm not too sure now…

I have too many bad thoughts on my mind.

….

Days past and nothing much happened. Well, Kilaven _did_ end up sitting with us, turns out he not as much of jerk as I thought he was. He became officially welcome to our group the moment Hidan heard he was a fellow gay in need, well, that and he told us a few hundred Priscilla episodes I've missed. Apparently, she dyes her fur every time she breaks up with a boyfriend. That's a-lot of guys.

At this moment, we were in the class that concludes the week, lovely _science._ It was the most awkward lesson ever. Ms Jasin didn't glare at anyone_ once _and she was genuinely happy. We got to make origami stars in class and everyone got a cookie! Although it was fun, (and the cookies were _heaven_) it was just so strange having an Ms Jasin who _liked_ the class. Very strange indeed…

Once the bell went, everyone, excluding myself and Hidan, ran out the classroom to get away from the strange teacher. The only reason we didn't run was because we had a sinking suspicion why.

Walking out of class, Hidan walked by my side, with his thinking face on. I hadn't told him about what my dad said. So he probably had more holes in the situation than I did.

"Aradia," he said quietly, "Do you want to hang out at the Burger Place tomorrow? I think I've found something rather interesting on my dad's computer."

I turned to him and looked at my friend strangely. "You hacked into your dad's…"

I never got to finish the sentence. Hidan swiftly placed a finger on lips and a look of extreme panic flashed in his eyes.

"I did nothing…" he whispered. Giving one of his panic stares, now that's something I haven't seen in a while. I slowly nodded back. He pulled his finger away and sighed with relief.

"Burger Place at usual time, processed. Oh, is Kilaven going to be there?" I had to ask. We haven't told him anything as he hasn't officially been classed as 'best friend' yet.

Hidan sadly shook his head. "He's laying low until the commotion with Priscilla calms down. Her friends have been giving him a rough time about it. If we involve him he will just have more on his mind. I think he knows though, his mum is in the guard."

I nodded my understanding. Yep, good old Prissy has been wreaking havoc yet again. The other day, Stara came to our group just to confirm that he was gay, then had the nerve to ask if I was sure too. I think I hit her on the head with my lunch box and screamed, (making sure the whole school new) that I was straight. She learnt a valuable lesson that day. Just because someone hangs with gay people doesn't always mean they are gay.

What a bunch of stuck ups.

Speak of the devils, here they are! Walking down the hall with Priscilla still dramatically upset in the centre and (as Kilaven had predicted) her fur was now cyan blue. She looked over our way, but didn't walk our way. She just glared at me evilly. Probably because I had big guy Hidan next to me, (He's around 5'4, one of the tallest in the _grade_)

Hidan just shook his head. "Ignore her. she's just jealous that we're getting along better with Kilaven than what she ever did."

I inwardly laughed inside.

….

The Burger Place is the only place in the dimension where you could get these really tasty sandwiches called 'burgers'… hence the name 'The Burger Place'. It was the no. 1 hang out spots for young adults due the unnaturally large number of seats available, free holo-net, cheap food and heaps of privacy. Well, the type of privacy when you're in such a largely populated space no one notices you.

So there we were, Hidan and I, eating a delicious meal in a crowded area waiting for illegal data to upload. The Funny thing is this is exactly what spy's in holo films do…

"Okay, it's done!" explained an excited Hidan, who was busily tapping away at the holo-screen in front of us. He flipped the screen round to give me a good look at what was on it.

What I saw…

It was a lombax, a boy around our age. He was wearing casual black clothes, nothing fancy. He was golden in colour, again nothing fancy. What I noticed next was fancy though. A green, grip like gun was being held in each hand, bringing out his beautiful, piercing green eyes that fitted across a perfectly formed face. His arms were in an X formation across his chest, which by the way (due to it being very good a mid-shot) was clearing showing off a six pack. Behind him, a cyan blue lizard lay dead on the ground looking like a clean kill. What caught my eye the most was the death glare from eyes that belonged to the lombax, to someone who clearly knew how to kill.

This picture… no, this lombax… was dangerously hot!

"Hidan to Aradia, do you come in? I know he's good-looking but we have an issue here!"

Hidan's voice stopped my trial of thoughts. So he's hot to gay guys too? Damn. I shook my head, getting the thoughts out my head, and turned to Hidan.

"That, Aradia, is a non-edited, wordless advertisement for weaponry. That guy," he jerked his head towards laptop, "is charity modelling for someone called the 'President of Polaris'. He's the mysterious 'he'."

I looked at Hidan speechless. The one guy I think is hot is in another dimension, lovely. Change of thought, the one guy I think is hot is _stuck_ with a_ Cragmite _in another dimension. Oh, how fate loves me.

Hidan raised an eyebrow. "You don't know where I'm getting at do you?" he asked with an exaggerated sigh. I just shook my head, again.

Sighing again, he explained. "If he's being hunted down why would they put him in an ad? Won't that make the matter worse?" He looked at me for a response.

I looked back at him and responded happily, "So he's safe?"

Hidan, with a smile on his face, nodded back. My mind did a little happy dance. He was just in another dimension!

….

Before we knew it, Monday arrived. Hidan had around 35 ads with the hot guy in it and sent them _all_ to me. I've printed a few posters and put them up in my room, set the ads as my holo-screen backgrounds and duplicated them. I spent most of Sunday putting pictures of him round my room and then fantasising about him. Hidan and I have nicknamed him Chase, simply because we were sick of calling him 'he' and because Chase sounds hot.

So here I was, standing in front of my locker staring at a dangerously hot Chase with a long electric whip. At least I was, until I was interrupted.

"H-hey, Aradia," said the annoying person.

I looked up to see Marcus, this army green lombax guy with these black square glasses, looking at me nervously. Marcus was the head of the Technology Club, real nerd, but one of those nice nerds that will carry your books and stuff. He never talks to me, so there must be a Tech breech or something…

"Yes, Marcus?" I asked, trying not to sound annoyed. He was slightly sweating and didn't look to good

"Umm… T-The dance i-is on Wednesday, d-do you want to g-go with me?" came the stuttered question.

Ok. This was definitely a turn of events. Marcus liked me? I was a little speechless and was just about to reply when I heard an odd voice; actually it was just a voice I barely ever heard at school.

"Aradia, there you are! We've been looking for you!" It was my dad. Grabbing my hand, he practically dragged me away from a now mortified Marcus. The one time a guy asks me out and my _dad_ naturally intervenes.

While being dragged along, I looked back to Marcus and screamed, "I'll talk to you later!"

Poor Marcus fainted and my dad did not look happy, or mad. He had his 'I am working, do not bug me' face on and started to pull faster through the halls of Kaden High. Other kids moved out the way, Priscilla gave me a look of satisfaction and I couldn't see Hidan or Kilaven anywhere.

Not stopping until we reached the heavily damaged door of Ms Jasin's lab. Dad's face calmed and he lightened his grip on me. He knocked with his free hand.

"I got her!" he yelled.

I was seriously confused through these recent fast paced events. One, I never see dad at school, two, a guy asked me out, and three, I didn't even get to reply.

This could only mean something wasn't good. How else can people change within a week?

The door opened, revealing a white lombax in guard uniform. I think his name was Eider; he was Priscilla's father, which is strange because he has his head screwed on straight. That and I've never seen him glare.

"The others are here," he said, eyeing me. "Bring her in. It's going to be a long talk."

…

Ms Jasin's lab was as it normally was. Ignore the fact that there was a whole unit of soldiers in the room and it would have been quite normal indeed. The 'others' Eider mentioned were Hidan and Kilaven, looking just as confused as I was.

We were sitting on three chairs in front of a set up holo-projector making sure the soldiers new that we weren't happy.

"I can't _believe_ we're missing Omniversal. That's my favourite class!" Hidan complained. He glared at each of the soldiers, showing off his staring ability. I had to laugh.

"Aradia, your behaviour needs some tuning," said my dad. It was a weak attempt to tell me off, so I laughed harder. Dad just rolled his eyes. "This is meant to be serious…" he muttered.

"Ok!" Eider called out from the front, "you three watch the holo-projector while listening to plan." He instructed in a monotone voice which ceased the laughing.

The holo-projector clicked, showing one of those hot ads of chase. Sending a sigh between the three of us, this one in particular seemed to be advertising armour. As it showed a clearly relaxed Chase in this real flashy gear, really bringing out his eyes…

Noticing our reaction, Eider quickly changed the slide to a picture of the three of us. Then he turned to my dad. "I thought you said he looked more like Kindra!" he said, raising an eyebrow in annoyance. So that was Ms Jasin's first name. Interesting how it came out.

My father just shrugged and said "Deal with it! Continue."

Eider sighed and looked at us. (The real 'us', not the picture) "Okay," he started. "That boy in the first frame is Ms Jasin's son." When none of us reacted, he continued. "As your parents have told you, he is on his own in a _very_ dangerous dimension. We have no idea if it is safe now or if it is somewhat worse."

He paused and glanced at the other guard members. They all seemed to be remembering something that happened before. Hidan, Kilaven and I were starting to get restless. No new info thus far.

Eider sighed, "To put it bluntly, we don't know what he is going to be like. So were looking for some common ground or something we use can relate to him. All we have is Ms Jasin, and he probably won't believe us if we told him that she is his mother. So we thought that if we sent, let's say, a young companion he could confide into, as a 'girlfriend' or 'boyfriend' as such. It depends what his romantic taste is of course."

The holo-projector then clicked into a picture of Chase and cut out Lombax silhouette with a question mark holding hands with him.

It took a while for it to sink in. We were being asked to go on high ranked Praetorian Guard mission to make out? My dad agreed to that? I looked over to Hidan and Kilaven, who looked just as surprised as I felt. Hidan's mouth was open and Kilaven looked as if he witnessed murder. The word he was gay got around real fast…

Then Hidan summed it up. "You're sending us to a possibly extremely hostile alien dimension on a semi-blind date. Our parents agreed to that?" Yep, Hidan knew how to sum stuff up.

"Wouldn't some other girl be better for the task?" I added, nervously. "I've never dated in my life."

Eider clicked to another picture of a pink girl and me with lots of arrows showing our differences, thank you Eider.

I looked to my dad, but he looked defeated. He didn't like it either.

My dad explained with his signature sigh, "Aradia, you're the highest in your grade at Omniversal. That and you won't be alien to him."

I raised an eyebrow to that. Why would some other girl be alien to a hot guy and I wouldn't? The way my life is at the moment, wouldn't it be the other way round?

My dad explained, again, with more detailed sentences. "He will speak Omniversal as it is compulsory for _everyone_ in the home dimension to be fluent at it. You are also _fluent_, you can talk to him. You are also natural in colour; you will look _normal_ and _attractive _to him. You are also very _smart_, _mature, respectful_ and _gentle. _These qualities are heavily valued in the home dimension. You are a unique individual and you show that off quite well. That is highly praised over there. You would stand out to him, even if we brought him to this dimension _before _he met you. Has it sunken in? If we chose a 'normal' girl from here to go, he will think that were crazy as whole race! Would you feel safe thinking that?"

I was considered normal in an alien dimension? I was considered alien in my normal environment? Thanks for pointing that out dad.

My dad faced Hidan and Kilaven. "You two are going in case he ends up being Gay. The more he has to choose from the better?"

Kilaven grimaced, "We don't have a choice in this do we?" he asked.

Then all soldiers said in unison, "Nope!"

**See, exciting stuff is going to happen now! Yaaaaay!**

**Next chapter- 'Into the Dimension" (I need to think of more creative chapter names…)**

**Constructive criticism greatly appreciated!**


	5. Overveiw

**Another little filler chapter, next chapter will be a lot more exciting! I'm deciding what their reaction will be. *Laughs evilly***

**Hope you enjoy.**

**My story, Insomniacs world**

The next couple of days were awkward. I mean, _extremely_ awkward. I've lost track of how many talks my dad has given me over 'boys' and 'what they want'. He makes it sound as if Chase is some kind of mass rape, homicidal person. Not that I would have minded. The talk even included the old pepper spray and combustor, which I must carry at all times. Mum, is the opposite. She's been trying to convince me to bring dresses on the trip, make me lose weight, giving me a whole stack of dating advice and generally sounding like if me getting a boyfriend will complete her life. I don't know which is worse.

Though it's cute how my brother thinks I should get a boyfriend so he can finally have a big brother.

"Then I can finally have someone to play holo-games with! Maybe he knows how to hover board and can teach me and… and…" my little brother trailed on. He was playing one of his holo-games in the lounge while I studied on the couch. At least he seemed to have a genuine wish that didn't involve me. Then again, I could imagine Chase and my brother running around on hover boots having fun. Yeah, my brother would love a big brother figure. Just for the life lessons.

I sighed, and got back to my study. I'll be missing out on who knows how much school because of this mission. Then again, I'm not too sure of how much I could take of

We go to the Home Dimension tomorrow. The plan was simple, go there, and 'convince' Chase to come back to the dimension with us, come back. But, only if the dimension is too dangerous, if it was safe, then a whole populace of lombaxes were going back. How they were going to do it?

I don't know.

"Aradia, stop slouching! It'll give you bad posture!" ordered my mother as she walked into the room carrying a large, purple suitcase. "Okay Sweetheart. I've packed your clothes, toiletries, undergarments, towels, leisure equipment and all the other essentials."

I groaned. I had to carry _that _bulky thing with me the _whole_ trip, lovely.

"Mum! I could be hiking for days!" I had to complain. Just to let some of the anxiety out.

"_You're _the one who needs to keep her appearance up! Take this seriously! You could be saving someone's life or changing it completely," she stated matter-of-factly. "Try and look good. If he's a homicidal maniac you might be able to control him with a shake of your hips."

The thought was hilarious, and my mother said it in such a serious tone you wonder what she actually meant, got me thinking of Chase wearing a collar looking like a cute kitten wanting to be picked up.

Then my mum pointed at towards my bedroom. "Now get to bed young lady. You're going to the engineering lab at 5 am and I want you to look your best!"

…..

The engineering lab was located near the school. Then again, because the floating rock we are on isn't exactly large, everything was close by. The pressure made my tail twitch. My mum had to stay home with my brother, so only my dad came with me. He was in the unit with me, to keep an eye on 'that boy'. I was holding up the large purple suitcase with both hands, struggling to keep it up.

We were outside the lab now. It was just a dome building, like every other building. Except this one had a large X on the front of it, the engineering symbol of completion. Don't know why they called it that. They don't finish half of their projects, let alone start them.

Everyone was already inside, waiting for us. So dad scanned his security card and we walked right in.

The engineering lab was just a bigger version of Ms Jasin's lab, except not as orderly and with a few more explosion marks. Ok, a-lot more explosion marks, bigger ones. I could see Hidan's lime green fur in the centre of the room standing next to Kilaven. They were nodding at something Eider was saying, seemed to be giving them a safety speech. Judging by their grim expressions they weren't looking forward to the trip. Personally, I found the idea strangely exciting (due to Chase) and terrifying (due to Craigmites). I couldn't believe I was even going to be under the same sky as Chase, the thought alone seemed to quell my fears almost entirely.

The boys turned to face me, Eider looking neutral and Hidan and Kilaven were looking dead scared. What _were_ they talking about?

"Hey, Aradia," welcomed Eider as he motioned me over to them. Hidan's face turned to confusion when he saw my giant suitcase. He shook his head and sighed. I stumbled over.

"I think the fact that you're a _girl_ will interest him more than your_ suitcase_ size," Hidan called out, gesturing to the suitcase.

"Shut up…" I sternly muttered back, looking the other way in embarrassment. _Mum really out did herself_…

"Okay you three!" Eider boomed, once I made my way to the group. "We've decided that Aradia needs a fellow girl to come with her, you know, for morale support! My daughter, Priscilla, has kindly volunteered to come with us! "He smiled proudly.

It took everything in my power not to look mortified or to scream in frustration. I had a giant suitcase _and_ Priscilla to put up with for the whole trip! Fate hates me…

"Speak of the devil…" muttered Kilaven. Poor guy looked as if he was going to faint.

I turned my head slowly and I saw just what I hoped I wouldn't see. There, cyan blue, in a short yellow dress, was Priscilla, staring daggers at me and Kilaven. She was dragging a suitcase at least twice the size of mine behind her. Maybe she will get the homicidal boyfriend instead…

Eider shook his head slightly, his eyes drifting into some sort of despair. "Cilla, I thought I told you to pack light! Aradia has an actual excuse and she hasn't packed half the amount of stuff you have!" He sounded as if he had been over this with her a few more times than once.

"She's not the only one who needs to look good!" she explained, holding her head high and letting out a small, high pitched 'huff'. Eider seemed to be trying not to grimace; I was doing the same thing. _I_ didn't pack my stuff, my mum did, and only because I'm the proposed 'back-up plan'.

I looked back to Kilaven to make sure he was going okay. He looked like he was going to cry, I had this sudden urge to go and give him comfort, he was stuck with his ex for the gods know how long and it was completely unpreventable. At least it means he definitely knows he's gay…

She turned to me, her eyes piercing through me as she put on a fake smile and said sweetly, "and I'm sure she will need someone to talk to."

I tried not groan. This was going to be a _long_ trip.

….

We had moved to the overview room, or movie room, depending what you were watching in there. It was like a miniature cinema, big enough to fit a unit of around 80 with added seats at the front for guests. The screen was huge! Spanning the area of the whole wall, must be so everyone could see. Eider was at the front preparing the holo-phone while we chatted amongst ourselves anxiously.

I sat in the guests seats at the front with Priscilla on my right and Hidan on my left, Kilaven, of course, was on the other side of Hidan. We kind of made a silent agreement to keep him furthest away from Priscilla, which meant I was stuck being closest. I'll put it up for him though, he needs the support.

"So," began Hidan, who was glancing at random things in an attempt to avoid eye contact. "What do you think the dimension will be like?" He was clearly trying to break the awkwardness between us four.

Priscilla naturally answered first. "It will be different from what we are use too, " no duh smarty pants, "and I hear there are these green things called 'plants' that exist there as unmoving living beings. Some are said to be poisonous…" she shivered. So she was scared.

"I don't care as long as we get home soon…" muttered Kilaven. He was just looking forward to getting away from Priscilla, couldn't blame the guy.

"I'm interested in finding some of the bones or ashes of the lombaxes left behind," continued Hidan. "Let them rest with their family, you know.

We went silent for a moment. In honour of those who didn't stand a chance. Hidan was such a sentimental soul, a strong one at that, to be able to consider them. I did notice how he brought a clay jar with him, most likely for small specs of ashes and bones from everyone he found, bringing back a piece of them to the Lombax community.

They all turned to look at me, encouraging for me to speak up. I turned to look at them, smiling slightly. "I want to bring our sole survivor back and get him on the right path. Away from the horrors of war, let him know he will never have to kill again."

The sentimental looks returned to their faces, their eyes beginning to water. The reason for this mission, a traumatized boy, our age, stuck in a violent dimension with no one he could depend on. Someone who was most likely brought up learning nothing other than how to kill and survive. Maybe death would have been a kinder decision for his father to make.

Eider cleared his throat in the holo-phone, gathering everyone's attention. He was on the right side of the screen holding a long staff of some kind. I assumed it was a pointer.

"Okay, now I have your attention. I will be describing what we _know_ we're going to do there and what we _might_ have do there," the screen turned on, revealing two photos next to each other. One was an ad of Chase and the other was photo of some lombax who looked identical to him, except with a more of an orange fur colour.

"There are several reasons to go to this dimension. One is to save the young lad on the right here," he pointed to Chase. A few of the lombaxes began to protest, the four of us just wondered why they were protesting. A kid alone in a barren wasteland, who wouldn't save him? "Before you ask, why go to so much trouble for one kid? He is the son of Kaden," He gestured to the more orange Lombax.

Silence fell into the room. Again, the four of us wondered why.

"Almost everyone in this room knows what Kaden did for our sake. The _least_ we could do is bring his boy home. Let him know that he doesn't have to be alone." His voice had become dead serious. Causing a brief emotion of grief over the room "Now that's out the way…"

He got the pointer and touched the screen revealing stars. Everyone's eyes started to shine in wonderment as we gazed at the foreign image in front of us.

"This picture is to let you all know that wherever he is, he's not on Fastoon, and that's where we're going to start." A loud groan escaped the crowd. "But once we get there we will be able to pinpoint his location anywhere in Polaris." The soldiers cheered. "Some will have to guard the portal back and the rest will come with the generals and me." A slight murmur could be heard. "We will be almost definitely doing sector travel."

The murmur grew louder.

"What's Fastoon?" Hidan asked me, clearly taking the noise as an opportunity to ask.

"No clue, "I replied, before Eider coughed into the holo-phone.

"Now for the safety speech; have a weapon on you at all times, don't draw attention to yourselves, if we find the kid don't provoke him. If he kills you he won't be punished for it. Don't provoke any creature for that matter. Listen to the Engineers and the Generals as they have been here before. Don't eat or drink anything that hasn't been cleared by them first. Don't wander into a strange forest or cave alone. Chances are you won't come back alive. Etc…" He was about to walk off the stage before he stopped. "Oh," He pointed towards the doors, "and Ladies first."

What happened next was so sudden. The four of were dragged by one of the generals into a dimension shuttle. We were told to buckle in and hold on tight. All I remember after that was 3, 2, 1!

**I needed to speed up the ending here. Hope it worked!**

**Please review!**


	6. Ashton Rachet

**I had a lot of fun writing this one! Hope you like it!**

**Constructive criticism greatly appreciated!**

**Ratchet and Clank and everything in it belongs to Insomniac!**

_Silence_

That's all I heard. It was one of those things that usually rouses fear within someone, but this silence was rather peaceful and serene. I was still buckled in the transport vessel, the strong straps squishing me against the metal seat, holding me down. I kept trying to move, but to no avail. It was pitch black. I couldn't see anything, not even Hidan's extremely noticeable lime green fur. My head started to pound and I began to panic.

Fear started to swell inside me as I thought of the worse outcome of our rushed trip. Bad thoughts such as '_we crashed in a hostile alien dimension' _and '_where is everyone' _came to mind. I struggled harder and screamed out.

"Who's not dead?"

That was when I heard the most comforting sound in whole dimension, at least, one of the things that could calm my nerves.

"Aradia, is that you?" It was Hidan. Thank the heavens, _it was Hidan. _Judging from his pained voice, he was exhausted.

"Hidan, you're alive!" I called out. I heard a shuffle to my right and his signature sigh.

"Good job Captain Obvious. Yes, I'm alive. My head's killing me though," he explained. I heard some sort of shuffling. "We need to get out…"

Ok. I knew Hidan was good with technology. But what happened next was just scary, even if it was just him. I heard a bit of clicking for a while, than all of a sudden the lights went on and the weight of the straps was lifted off my chest.

I heard a groan behind me and glanced behind my chair to see Hidan, looking as if he had a massive migraine, which he probably did. Next to his hand was a cut, red wire. How in the name of the heavens did he do that? I stumbled out my seat and kept myself up by holding on to the top of my seat, trying to spot everyone else. Kilaven was seated behind Hidan, completely knocked out, same for Priscilla, across from me. I spotted Ms Jasin up the back. Other than that, there was no one else I recognised. The only ones awake were the two of us.

Hidan staggered out of his seat. As he tried to walk towards the cockpit, he fell. I knew what he wanted to do. I quickly sat him up and put his arm over my shoulder and helped him get to the controls. Between the two of us, Hidan was better suited for control pit.

We made our way to the pit slowly, in silence. Wondering what on earth happened. Judging by how everyone was unconscious, it was one hell of a flight and I had a sinking suspicion that when we hoped outside we won't find the engineering lab. Now I had a good look at the vessel, it didn't seem overly damaged. So maybe, everyone became unconscious out of fear?

After many more straining steps we got to the cockpit. The pilot was sound, so me being me, I pushed him out the chair and placed Hidan in the more comfortable control chair. The pit was covered in protective armour, the only way to see outside was to look through camera's placed around the outside of the ship. In front of Hidan were buttons, lots and lots of buttons, even a big red one that said 'DO NOT PRESS". Makes you want to touch it…

After a bit of a rest and a deep breath Hidan effortlessly started tapping away at the keys in front of him. A holographic screen appeared in front of him asking if he wanted coffee, which was almost immediately shut off. Hidan's eyes strained in concentration as he worked on hacking into the main computer, making sure everything was perfect.

I leaned back against the wall and sat down, allowing myself to calm down. Now I did what usually do when we had bad issues such as this. I allowed myself to think.

Clearly, we had crashed. We don't know how we crashed or where. Nobody's dead, so it could have only been a minor error of the pilot. I calmed down. Listening to Hidan tapping on the computer in front of him, my thoughts drifted to Chase. Is there technology as advanced as ours in this dimension? Does Chase even know what a battery is let alone a computer? How will he cope in our dimension if he doesn't even know how to turn a water tap on?

I looked back at Hidan, still tapping away. Looking at his determined face, that's when I knew instantly what would happen. If Chase turned out to be some traumatised kid who has seen nothing other than battlefields and sleepless nights. Hidan, being the caring guy that he is, would take it upon himself to teach Chase how to live. Show him that blood will not spill at his hands again. I could see Hidan teaching Chase how to use a computer, how to speak our language, how to talk to others and so on. Maybe that's why Hidan was chosen to come with us, he might be able to get through to him.

The approval sign appeared on the holo-screen in front of him. He smiled successfully.

The metal plates around us turned into one big window, showing us exactly what was in front of us. Hidan's smile faded as he looked at it and I stared in shock. It was the most horrible thing I had ever seen. We were looking at a city of some sort. If I had to describe it, I would say it was steam punk themed. The ground was cracked, buildings had collapsed, and there were scorch marks everywhere. The worst decoration were the several giant, bug like skeletons that lay all over the place. Looking at them, the word _Craigmite_ came to mind.

"There was a recent battle here," concluded Hidan.

I didn't answer. He was right. These skeletons would have been more decomposed if they came from the battle 21 years ago. There too white… and scorched dirt would have been grown over by now.

We stared in fear and then in sympathy. What sort of place did Chase grow up in?

A few lombax soldiers came into view of our little window and started running towards us in excitement at the site of our vessel. I think fate has changed her mind about me.

…..

It took a good two hours for the soldiers to bust a hole into the roof of the cockpit and get all unconscious out. Hidan and I were sitting on the foreign ground. Listening and feeling for the first time, _wind._ It had a cool calming effect on me as it ruffled my fur and cleared my head. The smell of death and rotting corpses hung in the air, reminding us where we were.

The units that came with us did a good job at setting up camp, avoiding the bodies and ammunition that lay all over the place. The unconscious Lombaxes were in the medical tent (or the House of Poking and Prodding) being treated for whatever reason.

The first to walk out of the House was Ms Jasin in some Praetorian armour. Surrounding her was a veil of misery. She looked defeated and vulnerable, who knew what was going through her head at this moment. She looked around the place and then spotted us and gave us a half smile before walking over.

Walking over to us was a depressed Ms Jasin, scary…

"Well, if it isn't you two?" she said in a semi-cheerful voice, taking a seat next to us.

We just nodded and acknowledge she existed. Until the crash I had no idea that she was coming on the trip. Then I realized I was being incredibly stupid, of _course _she was coming. Chase was her son.

"This place has changed so much since I was here last," she explained, gesturing to the ruin around us. "It used to be so beautiful…" she didn't need to say more. Her saddened eyes told the rest of the story.

I felt so much sympathy for her. I needed to cheer her up, in some way or another. She just found out her husband was tortured to death and her son could have been raised as a homicidal maniac in a place like this.

"What's his name?" It just came out. Ms Jasin looked at me strangely and I continued.

"What did you call him? Hidan and I have nicknamed him Chase; the guard call him 'Kaden's boy'. But he must have been called something else. Why would a parent call their son that?"

Whatever I said seemed to work. Ms Jasin laughed hysterically and (realizing what I just said) Hidan and I soon joined in. Guards were giving us these really weird looks and the grim atmosphere suddenly lightened.

"A… shi…. Ton," muffled Ms Jasin, her hands now covering her face.

Hidan and stopped laughing and looked at her. "Pardon?" we asked in unison. Dumb struck that she actually answered.

"Ashton…" she answered, calming down. "He was christened as Ashton. "We all smiled. Ashton… suited him. "He's grown so much. Must have taken more after his father for him to be alive this long." She then looked up the sky, completely content.

That all changed when Priscilla woke up.

"Daddy! Where am I?" We cringed as we heard Priscilla's morning call followed by what seemed to be her father comforting her.

"Can you two promise me something?" asked Ms Jasin, who was looking at the House with glaring eyes.

We weren't too sure, but nodded simultaneously anyway. What could Ms Jasin want with us that wouldn't be reasonable?

"If you find Ashton, keep him as far away from Priscilla as possible. The last thing I want is for him to be dating her. OK?" she asked. A grim image was forming across her face.

See, completely reasonable.

…

The next several hours, while waiting for everyone to wake up, were spent watching Priscilla adapt to the new environment. 'Ewwww, a dead body!", "There's ash on my skirt!" and "There's a ghost ruffling my fur!" are just some of my personal favourites. Another complaint was just about to happen… now...

"What do you mean no showers!" she screamed at Kilaven. He had taken it upon himself to tease her in every way possible.

"Well, there's no running water…"continued Kilaven. He was looking at her teasingly. Oh, the ways extract revenge.

"How can there not be running water!" she screamed back.

"Well we are in hostile alien dimension…"

The argument continued, to our enjoyment.

"Aradia, get you and your friends over here! We're about to locate him," I turned around to see my dad waving us over. I didn't need to do anything to get us lot running to the like the excited teenagers we are. _We're going to find him!_

We went under the flaps of the tent entrance and gawked at the huge amounts of computers and buttons placed around the tent. All the power plugs were connected to some old generators of one the stronger buildings. This has to be the engineer's tent.

The engineers ushered us over to the biggest holo-screen. Ms Jasin was at the front. Why would we need a massive holo-screen to find a guy…? Beats me…

"Okay," said a black engineering guy. "His transmitter clams he's in the…" His face fell.

"Where!" ordered Ms Jasin. Clearly she wasn't taking *blank* as an answer. I can understand her frustration completely.

The engineer then finished his sentence, stuttering in fear. "The Nundac Asteroid Ring, mam. You know the leviathan breeding grounds." He was beginning to shiver under her cold stare. "We can't possibly send troops there…"

Ms Jasin glare turned into a glower.

"We will send our troops there right away." He finished.

Ms Jasin stopped glowering and turned to a dark brown lombax at this complicated control panel that Hidan seemed to be looking at in awe.

"Is it ready yet? I really want to see if he's okay!" She explained to him, looking rather impatient. I've never seen Ms Jasin act this way before. She seemed so… motherly. Then my head cleared and I realized what she said. See him! We were going now!

We some sort of electrical sound and a few yelps from the back of the tent. A lombax in a rubber suit came out from under the tent flaps with thumbs up.

The dark brown lombax happily turned to Ms Jasin and nodded. He lifted a finger, pressed a button and the screen burst to life.

What we saw made everyone sigh. The biggest sigh came from Ms Jasin.

It was Ashton. He was lying in a modelling approved pose, on the roof of some floating metal building. He was wearing casual clothes, nothing more than a black t-shirt and long navy blue pants. Yet they showed his masculine figure perfectly and really brought out his eyes. Which was like shimmering emeralds as they gazed into a beautiful… my breath hitched… sea of stars.

There were billions of them! Way more than what was in the picture in science class, so amazing…

Everyone tensed when he moved his head slightly. It was strange… he didn't seem traumatized or homicidal like we expected. He was calm and relaxed. As if nothing scared him.

"_Ratchet?" _came a strange robotic voice.

I automatically translated the voice coming from the screen. I heard Ms Jasin mutter the name under her breath as she gazed unbelievingly at her perfect son. A little robot of some sort with glowing yellow eyes, waddled across the roof and sat down next to him.

"_Hey Pal. Just thinking…"_ came Ratchet's smooth reply. My heart skipped a beat. It was the most amazing, melodic voice I have ever heard. He had the perfect accent and the emotion came out perfectly as if watching a holo-film. Wow.

"_Go on…"_ went the little robot. He seemed to brotherly like to the lombax, must be a close friend.

Ratchet raised a hand to the stars. _"You know the lombax dimension? I was wondering if they had stars like this. If they had some sort of Omniverse at their fingertips."_ He gripped the hand. _"Or if someone my age hasn't even left the town or city where they grew up in, never leaving the place knowing nothing of true beauty or hardship." _His hand dropped to his chest.

What a second. Did he just say he felt sorry for us? After we did all this because we felt sorry for him?

"_Think about it. We have planets, comets, sectors, galaxies… all to explore on our own accord, free for us to use. Now I see. I was LUCKY to be left behind. Sure we dealt with Tachyon and free Polaris from his reign and all that stuff. Getting a wound here and there, and whopper migraines! Yet in the end I think I'm grateful to be here. With friends like you and the others…"_

The screen went blank. Silence went through the tent, no one said a word. He thought he was lucky to be left behind. To be in this place, he said we knew nothing of true beauty and hardship. I don't know what he meant. But it couldn't have been good.

Ms Jasin had tears streaming down her face.

**There we go a complication. What if he doesn't want to go back?**

**Found out in future chapters.**

**Constructive criticism greatly appreciated! **


	7. Escape

**This chapter was a pleasure to right. Excuse the odd errors. (written and uploaded at midnight)**

**Sorry for it being late. I don't have a set time frame yet for chapter uploading. Let me know when would like them uploaded. (I need a minimum of a week) I'll update more over holiday periods due to boredom! Enjoy!**

**Constructive Criticism greatly appreciated!**

**Ratchet and Clank world owned by Insomniac**

Priscilla's POV

So this was the 'poor guy' everyone was talking about. My eyes glanced around the tent to see Ms Jasin's tear filled faced. The pain she must be feeling, knowing he didn't want to be with her, probably thinking she was dead. Not wanting to be where he should be.

I glanced around again; taking note that everyone else seemed pained.

So I tried to lighten the mood.

"At least, he seems content and somewhat happy. That cute little robot must be great company," I nodded my head at the last bit, to aid my campaign. The silence still hung in the air, but it didn't seem as thick as it did before. No one was giving me the evil glare so I assumed I said something nice.

I took in the looks of their faces a bit more, practically that of Aradia's. Judging by the immense pain on her face, she _really_ liked the guy, and I'm pretty good at these types of guesses. Those two would make an adorable couple…

"You're right, Priscilla."

Everyone almost jumped out of their fur when Ms Jasin spoke up. She glanced up at me and I gave her an encouraging smile. What else could I do?

"He is content. He has a mind of his own. If he was a murderous wreck he would be nowhere near that sane." She said solemnly, her eyes reverting back to the ground. "And that robot does look like good company."

I gave her a more genuine smile and tried to encourage her more. She was trying so hard to look on the bright side of the situation. "Exactly! That means he will be even more ecstatic when he learns his mother is alive."

Everyone in the tent looked at me funny. Did I say something wrong, or did I change colour. I looked down at my arm. _Still blue…_

I changed plan.

"So… how did the image come up?" I asked, turning to the black lombax at the control panel. Giving him a rather desperate look, he got the message.

"Well," he started, "We have a signal sent up there by a machine at the back. The signal bounces off the tracker and back to the machine, sending back a still image of him and his surroundings. Speed the process up by around 20 billion light ubac's per second and you can see exactly what he is doing at that present moment."

A big 'ooohhh' came from everyone. The guy had put such a complicated process in to such basic language in such a way; you had to give the guy credit. He was good at what he did.

Aradia turned back to me and gave me a look that told me 'what the hell'. "Back to the point, are you saying we should go looking for him? He wants nothing from us!"

I sighed. She wasn't good at reading people. No, she wasn't good at all.

"We have as much to learn from him as he does from us. Who knows, maybe he's right and we're wrong. Maybe we have grown ignorant in the dimension and have forgotten the good stuff about this place…" I explained. I put my hands behind my back and imagined the size of this place, when Hidan butted in.

"But you're never this nice! What do you know? We have now idea what he's like…" he trailed off. "If he's happy here we should leave him alone. Let him be."

The elders, and Ms Jasin, agreed with him. That was the end of it.

…

It was around dusk. Everyone was setting up camp. I was sitting on a rock, glaring hard at a craigmite skeleton. Aradia had just started unpacking up her stuff in the tent we were sharing.

I was dumb struck. I had put up with killer heels, the short skirts, the make-up, the fake relationships and everything else underneath the sun, ever since Ratchet's tracker had been picked up about a year ago. My best friends had helped me with the reputation and even a whole stack of guys, including Kilaven and his friends, (who was playing his part as the gay guy amazingly well, must be the pink dye) to help get me on this mission. My dad would have thought me too rebellious to go otherwise…

I gritted my teeth as my thoughts were driven to the hive mine back in the dimension. If only _he_ died on the way in.

"Hey,"

I looked up to see Aradia. She had no idea… If only she knew.

"What," I said annoyed. Making sure she got the message.

She flinched, and then narrowed her eyes. "You haven't been yourself lately," she stated.

The words 'no duh' came to mind. "And that's your problem, why?" I asked.

She looked at me funny, and then shook her head. She ran in the direction of Hidan, near the engineer tent, now was my chance. I sat up quietly and went into the tent. I had to get my gear ready.

Of course, I needed a-lot of gear. An old gun, extra ammo, a bit of armour, first aid, rations, and other supplies… probably a little more than your average camping packs. Oh, and did I mention the dye remover? Amazing stuff!

I had to get my gear ready fast. Leave the stuff I was meant to bring behind. I need to meet up with Kilaven for the great escape; hopefully he got his hands on the Tracker Finder. Without that we're screwed. There would be no way in hoping hell we would find him.

I just stuffed everything in backpack and prayed I didn't need anything else. Kilaven would be wondering where I am.

"Dinner's ready!" called someone from the camp kitchen, rattling pots of some sort. It was perfect timing. I could already hear the soldiers running off towards the kitchen in an excited heap.

I poked my head out the tent, looking around to make sure no one was there. After nothing moved, I slowly walked out, heading towards the rendezvous point that we agreed on. Behind the vessels about 4km from camp, a long walk, but the one place they won't look.

We had to find him.

No matter the cost.

….

Aradia POV

Priscilla was the most stupid person in this whole dimension! Risking the lives of everyone to find a guy that is completely fine and doesn't want to come with us!

I stormed off to the kitchen. Letting 'Miss Up herself' sort her stuff out in the tent. There was no way I would even consider going through her stuff; it would be risking her anger, dangerous much.

"Hey. Aradia," My head turned to the sound of my name to see Hidan running up to me. A grim expression was on his face, he appeared to be panicking. I could see sweat dripping down his face with worry. Did something happen in the engineering tent?

"Kilaven, where is Kilaven?" he yelled, finally slowing down and stopping in front of me, catching his breath.

"I thought he was with you," I told him slowly, waiting for him to calm down.

"I thought he was with you!" he said between pants, "He said he had to go and tell you something. You were in plain sight! Something's wrong!" He started to panic again.

From the tent I heard my dad's booming voice, "What's going on!"

…

Kilaben's POV

Priscilla better get here soon. I didn't dye my fur pink to be left alone on an alien planet.

The evil thought was as gruesome as the long walk to get to the vessels. It has taken us ages to find this guy, whoever he was; the Elder said he would be the only one who could 'retrain' us for the old dimension. Something about 'real' water and food and something called an 'economy'. Though the latter was mostly complained about, wonder why?

I was wasting my time staring at a disgusting deteriorating craigmite body. Okay, there was a theory that this Ratchet guy knew how to fight. Being the only Lombax in a galaxy ruled by a Craigmite, I guess you would be.

Looking at this carcass was getting old. Where the hell was that women? She's the one with Pilate licence; it would be a waste of time putting me at the wheel…

With that thought in mind I saw a blue dot running as if she was being chased by a giant worm of sorts. Usually I would say 'running like hell' but due to what was chasing after her at this moment, I think it fitted perfectly.

"Priscilla!"

…..

Aradia POV

A search party had just been sent out to find Kilaven and the newly missing Priscilla. What in the dimension is going on! I just saw Priscilla a moment ago. Hidan broke my thoughts.

"I don't usually sympathise about Priscilla, but something bad must have happened if we lost her in less than ten minutes," he glanced down at the sand. "I'm worried about the two of them…"

I would never say this out loud. But I was worried about them too. With all her nastiness, Priscilla didn't deserve to be eaten by a Leviathan or whatever else was out here. Kilaven _definitely _didn't deserve it. I could just imagine the two of them talking together at the pit of a stomach, belonging to some ferocious beast.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," I told him.

…

Priscilla's POV

So that's what it was… I look at the exotic weapon in my hand then back to the giant worm, now dead, lying in some awkward position.

"Why didn't you use that thing earlier!" came the cry of a familiar voice behind me.

I turned and gave him a shy smile, oops.

"This guy in a vendor threw it at me and declared it was _free_. I didn't know what he threw at me, but I wasn't expecting an updated combustor…" My thoughts zapped back to reality as Kilaven started swinging the Tracker Finder round his finger.

"Then let's get moving!" he ordered. "He'll murder us if we don't get to the gold guy first, literally."

I laughed at his sense of humour.

Too true…

…..

Aradia's POV

It's been hours and nothing. No sign of the blue and pink duo. Hidan was devastated; he was blaming himself for Kilaven. I had to go into his tent and put an arm around his stiff form to help him sleep. Usually my dad wouldn't have allowed it, with Hidan being a boy and all, but then again, Hidan was an exception for a-lot of things.

He was finally asleep, the poor guy. I also kind of feel guilty about Priscilla. _I_ chose not to stay with her, not the other way round.

Hidan began to shiver, I was so caught up in my thoughts I forgot how cold it was. I sat up and went looking for a spare blanket to cover my highly emotional friend. Hidan will just get sick in the state he's in.

I felt the soft fabric at the bottom of the emergency bag. I pulled the blue life saver out and flapped it over Hidan and me. Putting my hand over his shoulder and pulling him closer to me, I whispered a few words of comfort and offered warmth. I could handle the cold, just not the heat.

Hearing his rhythmic breathing I eventually fell asleep, only to be woken up by a raised eyebrow of my father, Hidan with a migraine and everyone else running about yelling at the top of their lungs 'The Tracker Finder's gone and where in the dimension is vessel 14!"

Those sneaky little…

**Did that spice things up or what! **

**Hope you liked it!**

**Please tell me what you think! :D**


	8. Space and Stars

**Sorry for the late update. Sadly, life got in the way and well… yeah**

**Hope You enjoy the chapter!**

**Ratchet and Clank is owned by Insomniac**

Aradia's POV

Remember what was mentioned before, about not going to look for 'Ratchet'? Well, let's just say that plan was thrown out the window and everyone was rushing to get ready for the trip. I was watching my father yell at about 100 Lombax's trying to get ready.

"Okay… we need to find three more combustors and we need another engineer to volunteer. I am NOT going without at least five!" yelled my father over the rushing hoard.

Lombax's were running around everywhere in blurs of yellows, whites, blacks and the odd fluoro. Ms Jasin and I hung near the kitchen, the only clear area to be seen amongst the living clutter.

She was ecstatic. Her hair, normally in a bun was now in a long ponytail and her lab coat had been exchanged for combat gear, She looked so different but didn't seem to notice because wouldn't shut up about seeing her son. Normally I would mind if a teacher babbled on about nothing for three hours straight, but this was definitely an exception. I've never seen Ms Jasin so… happy.

"He has Kaden's eyes! Green eyes are so rare amongst our kind now! I wonder how his life has been? He couldn't have been involved in _really_ bad activities right? I mean, he's only 21…" was what I was hearing in the background of my thoughts.

At this moment, my thoughts were on the now famous dynamic duo that seemed to think it was up to them to 'save' the guy. I never knew Priscilla was so compassionate, she needs to show it more often, but not to the extent she did last night, and she shouldn't have gotten Kilaven mixed up in it. Something just didn't seem right…

I looked up to see Hidan running over, looking great as always, in combat gear with green highlights in the shape of an X on his chest. Apparently he hated the original design and painted some fluoro green designs with paint he found at the back of one of the vessels.

"Hey, Aradia! Pink looks good on you," he said gesturing to my own combat gear.

Ms Jasin seemed to snap back into reality. "Hidan, what vessel are you on?" She asked for some unknown reason.

"12?"

"Oh, that's good. You'll be with Aradia and myself. We'll be the first ones there," She grinned broadly at the last comment.

Hidan gave me a quizzing look before someone yelled, "12 boarding in 10min!"

"Time to go!" said Ms Jasin in a sing song voice before skipping towards vessel 12. Somewhere near the first aid tent. Hidan and I watched her in bewilderment.

"Well, at least someone's happy," exclaimed Hidan with a confused look on his face. He turned back to me. "Anyhow, what are we going to do when we meet this guy?"

My response was simple. "He's sane enough to talk to and seems to know how to turn a computer on. I'm certain you boys can talk about software of some kind."

Now he was giving me the quizzing look.

"What's up?" he asked, "You were so excited to go looking for this guy, well were finally going! Don't tell me what he said has detoured you from the mission."

I gave Hidan an annoyed look at that statement. I didn't care about the mission, not anymore.

"He doesn't need us. I don't see why we're even gonna go look for him!" I muttered. Hidan sighed and place a hand on my shoulder. Giving me a look that I couldn't decipher.

"Where ever he is, Kilaven and Priscilla will be there with him. There's no way around it," he said calmly. "Who knows, maybe he's not so different."

'12 boarding in 5 minutes!'

"Come on," he said, gesturing his free hand into the direction that Ms Jasin went. "We'll get to see stars up close!"

…..

Somewhere in the Cerulean sector

"Okay, stars were cool at first. BUT THERE EVERYWHERE! If it wasn't for this tracker I swear we would have been going in circles!" yelled a frustrated Kilaven, who has been looking out the window for the past half hour. Nothing but stars surrounded the vessel, granted the odd planet or asteroid was passed every now again. Now though, stars and planets bored Kilaven to death.

Priscilla chuckled "Get over it! We only have another…" She lifted up the tracker finder, looked at the dials and smiled. "19, 000 light years to go."

Kilaven sank in his seat.

…..

Hidan's POV

Stars are gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous, particularly when they dominated the sky in their mass clusters, wowing the senses in the process. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life and I doubted that anything more amazing existed.

I was currently in a space ship, trying hard to look at the amazing technology in the vessel and the view outside t of the window at the same time.

I heard a slight grumble next to me. Aradia was in a foul mood, probably because the model maniac we were looking for doesn't exactly need a guard platoon to keep an eye on him. Sadly, part of said platoon was Aradia. She was currently glaring at the same sight that was thrilling me and was taking her anger out on the arm rest. Ms Jasin was next to her, looking more nervous by the minute.

I sighed ( a habit of mine) and thought of this 'Ratchet' we were going to collect. He looked healthy, I guess, and was well in tune with the Omniversal language. He occasionally modelled for weapon ads, meaning he probably _has_ fought before. Judging from what I seemed of him, he was happily sane and laid back. But one thing stuck in my mind, he must have had a love for this dimension to want remain here. The stars are beautiful, but the creatures that somehow thrive under them are what scares me. Those rotting corpse back on Fastoon was only the surface of what was here.

"So there you are!" A voice boomed.

I looked up to see General Vadin smiling down at Aradia and myself. He nodded to Ms Jasin in greeting before continuing.

"You two do know where we are going, right?" he asked, slight concern wavered in his voice.

Aradia and I looked at each other for a moment before shaking our heads. Yes, we boarded a space ship without knowing where we were going. In my defence, I didn't really know where I was to start with.

The General shook his head in return.

Ms Jasin smiled. "The nundac Asteroid Ring, in the Cerulean sector, it is a well known Leviathan breeding ground."

My ears pricked up at the word _Leviathan_. Stories from my younger years flooded into my mind about the murderous creatures that held that name.

"We don't know why he is staying so long there. Most people would have hijacked by now," continued the General, his voice going grim. "I'm betting that he's a Leviathan hunter."

Aradia's ears pricked up at the last comment.

"What!" cried Aradia. "He knows he's the last one here, yet he's risking his life with those things!"

The poor arm rest, it was being strangled before… and now it's being tortured.

Ms Jasin, surprisingly, just laughed. "I was right," she said. Her eyes were now watering with humorous tears. "He's just like his father!"

I raised my eyebrow and looked at her laughing for a while before curiously asking, "Was Kaden also a hunter?"

Aradia hit my arm at the somewhat rude question, but Ms Jasin didn't seem to care. She just laughed even harder. The general even smiled a bit.

"Oh, no. Kaden was a gladiator participant when the guard needed one of the prizes, such as a powerful weapon or a rare animal. Well, he won them all obviously. Ratchet though has probably lived the life of a professional," said Ms Jasin happily.

My other eyebrow rose. What an awesome Mum! My mother wouldn't even let me go to the movies by myself, let alone be cool with finding out I've been a gladiator most of my life. I smiled, maybe it is good a thing this kid stayed behind. He would _hate _the other dimension, nothing but giant worms to fight after all. The pilots voice was then over heard.

_Arriving at the Nundac asteroid ring in seven hours. Please sit back relax._

The ears of everyone on board dropped.

I sank into my seat and look at the sight outside. This was going to be a long flight.

….

4 Hours Later At Apogee Space Station. Ratchet's POV

The Apogee Space Station definitely had location issues. It was stranded in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of space. Light years away from any form of civilisation known to those that lived there. The place was well known for the weapons that were held there. A necessity considering that it was a leviathan breeding ground.

Despite all the negatives, this was the only place (other than Veldin) that I called home. I didn't mind killing leviathans and collecting their souls or wasting half a tank of thruster fuel just to get the groceries.

What I did mind, however, was that it just happened to be this location where a big president in a green spandex with the first name of Qwark decided to stay every now and again and complain about the debt he got the galaxy into and his attempts to get me involved to help get the galaxy into a surplus.

I was in my room. It wasn't much, just a double bed with an onsuite, TV, couple of bookshelfs and a teleportation platform to get me to my wardrobe and work places. I was examining my new teleportation watch quietly on my bed while listening to a way to loud pirate radio tune (in an attempt to zone out Qwark's cries).

"Please Ratchet! An ad, a movie… anyone who is a rich company owner would pay billions just to have your name or face somewhere with their products. Weapons sales for Grummelnet went up almost 55% after those ads you did! I bet they would love to have you again!" begged Qwark. He was outside by bedroom door, yelling so loud I could hear him over my speakers.

I turned off the speakers, placed down my books and angrily yelled back, "Qwark! I'm not a Supermodel nor do I want to be an actor. I won't sign my life away to solve your problems! Problems you got the galaxy into I might add!"

I heard a slight clanging outside my room and heard a familiar knock.

"Ratchet, can I come in?" It was clank. Oh, thank Orvus it was clank!

I got up and walked towards the door and pressed one of the red buttons on the side of it. In a small burst of light, the small, shiny robot had been teleported to my side.

"Hey buddy. What's up?" I asked him. Leaning against the door in the process, Qwark was still outside screaming at me to let him in too.

Clank looked up at me. His electronic green eyes growing very dim. "You're not going to like it." He said.

"Does it involve the great green buffoon outside?" I asked, gesturing towards the door.

"No."

"Then it can't be that bad," I told him with a smile.

Clank shook his head. "An unknown ship is heading straight into a Leviathans nest. I've never seen the design, so I can't identify the species. They're 300 light years away."

My ears pricked up.

"Only, 300 light years? Well then, let's give them a hand." I said cheerfully. Snapping on my watch and hitting a few buttons to get to Aphelion.

Finally, something to do to pass the time.

**Tell me what you think!**

**Constructive criticism greatly appreciated!**


	9. Meeting

**Sorry for the late update! I have been going through the normal trials of high school, I'll try to get the next one up sooner. **

**But I'm not making any guarantees.**

**Cookies to everyone who is still reading this though **

**I don't own Ratchet and Clank, insomniac does **

On board a stolen vessel stolen in a far off sector of some sort of galaxy, Kilaven and I were on a mission. Too find 'Ratchet' and convince him to help us train the Lombax populace for this dimension. To get off that rock and go home.

There was, however, a problem.

Most of the youth didn't want to go back, and most of the adults as well. Fear had been pumped into them through campaigning and drills by certain generals. I guess it's just easier to run a species when they only exist on a floating rock. Speaking of floating rock…

"Kilaven! I think that's it!" I called.

Kilaven, who was half asleep in the passenger's seat, suddenly sat up straighter and leaned forward. In front of us was an asteroid ring surrounding what appeared to be a very large station of some kind, what was strange though were the soft glimmers of a light blue hue that appeared here and there. I had no idea what the stuff was but it couldn't be bad, right?

"Hey, Pris. See that glowing thing over there? It's above that flat surface. Isn't that a good place to land?" Exclaimed Kilaven, who was pointing towards some of the shiny blue stuff, he then smiled. "We're so close."

I smiled too, we were.

That was when I noticed a metal automatic door on the side of the station, which I paid no attention too before, and I noticed them now because they were opening. Kilaven noticed it as well and ours jaws dropped at what came out.

It was a ship. Not just any ship, but a Lombax fighter ship. Coloured in a light blue hue and dark metal, I give the pilot credit, he could give his ship some style. Speaking of the pilot, the ship was skilfully being driven through the asteroid ring, right towards us.

"That's not out to blow us up, is it?" asked Kilaven, who was staring at the ship as if it won the 'Best Engineered Spaceship' award. (yes, that award is back on the rock and is handed out yearly.)

"Guns aren't out, no warning message and isn't approaching at a dangerous speed. Guess…"

_Starship Transporter 5985-Gamma, This is 3371-Alpha do you copy?_

At the sudden interference, our jaws dropped slightly lower and Kilaven and I looked at each other with shock. Looking at the intercom that just spoke Omniversal… with the voice of the guy we were looking for.

_Starship Transporter 5985-Gamma, This is 3371-Alpha do you copy? _Repeated the voice out of the intercom.

Finally getting my wits about me I answered back (in Omniversal). "Uhhh… yeah, we copy."

I swear I heard something about an 'unexperienced answer' before we got something back.

_You need to turn on your distance communicators; I had to fly my ship to get into your reception range. _

I looked onto the control panels. Yes, the distance communicator was off.

"And why would that be your problem?" I asked the communicator in front of me. Kilaven had his eyes scrunched together in confusion.

I heard a light chuckle from the other end.

_Look closer at the glowing blue stuff._

Kilaven and I leaned closer to the window and eyes widened in alarm at the massive snake like beast we saw. It was huge! Bigger than our ship! It was looking right at us with glowing blue eyes, apparently waiting for the fatal mistake we were about to make.

"Thanks…" I squeaked.

_No problem. You're not the first outsider to not recognize a leviathan._

…

Back on Vessel 12 Ms Jasin's POV

I couldn't believe it. I was finally here, finally going to see him and the pilot gets us LOST!

I was fuming in my seat, trying to prevent myself from knocking out the pilot and flying there myself. I've been there before after all and memorised the coordinates the moment I saw them. How could someone who calls himself a pilot get us LOST!

A glance to my left saw the faces of two very stiff young Lombaxes looking in my direction. Aradia appeared to have turned into a statue while Hidan just looked around awkwardly. I could hear Eider screaming at the pilot on the other side of the ship. I inwardly chuckled, two angry parents on board.

"Kindra."

I looked up to see General Micdos Vadin, looking somewhat annoyed. Normally he would have been telling Eider to pipe down, but if it was Aradia we were looking for… a inwardly chuckled at the thought.

"Please tell me you know the way there," he asked/begged.

I gave him a half smile. "I thought you would never ask."

…

Ratchet's POV

So there I was, in the middle of a leviathan breeding ground, instructing a young female pilot on how to land in a hanger and navigate through an asteroid ring, wondering how the hell she got her license.

"Okay, now fly through the metal doors and land on the red pad." I said into my intercom.

_Is that all?_

Her accent was strange, not something I could place, I was guessing a French or American Valkyrie. They often had trouble navigating through asteroids due to the lack of them around their planet.

"Yep," I replied.

The transporter vessel slowly and shakily went into the hangar, attempting to avoid touching the doors and headed straight for the red pad. Aphelion was flying steady behind them and already had an opinion of the recent flight.

_That was pathetic._ Came her metallic voice._ I do hope you will be looking for fighter patrol planes soon, that would make the day more interesting. _

There was a gasp on the other side of the intercom.

_Your ship can talk?_

This time it was a male voice, with the same accent as the girl. Now I was confused. The Valkyries _never_ hung out with their male counter parts.

Without a second thought I asked "Where are you from?"

_We'll explain later._ It was the girl.

A metal movement next to another pad caught my eye. Clank had positioned himself in front of the blue pad (near the red one) and was making large movements, making sure to let Aphelion where to land.

Dodging the other ship, Aphelion made a beeline straight there and gracefully landed without hesitation. All the while talking to clank in some robot language I didn't know.

My restraints lifted off me and the cockpit opened up. Hesitantly I looked over to the transporter ship which appeared to be having trouble to land. It was going round in circles above the pad. I shook my head and hopped out of Aphelion, then casually leaning up against her while waiting for the other ship to touchdown.

_I don't like the pilot girl._ Said Aphelion, causing me to glance at her and softly place my hand on her wing. _She makes that poor ship look ridiculous._

There was a quiet 'I heard that' from the confused vessel which looked like it was finally starting to land. Releasing the landing platforms and slowly sinking down.

I rolled my eyes and muttered slowly, "I'm so lucky to have a ship like you." Aphelion' s lights glowed with pride in response.

With a sudden THUNK! the ship landed. It shuddered a bit before the cockpit opened up. Whirring and buzzing sounds seemed to indicate that whoever made that ship decided to make the simple things (like opening a door) complicated.

It just sat there; cockpit opened and I started hearing words and phrases in another language. I think they were arguing.

I'm no stranger to foreign languages, I'm fluent in about 11 and know basic communication in another 6. A necessary skill when travelling from galaxy to galaxy. Even if I didn't understand it I normally knew _which_ language was being spoken.

However, I don't even think I've heard language before.

A head popped out of the cockpit. A_ Pink_ _Lombax_ head, popped out of the cockpit.

It was either a manly looking lombax girl… or a pink lombax guy.

I just raised an eyebrow. Now that's something you don't see every day.

"Sorry, to intrude," said the Lombax. It's voice was kind of squeaky and I was starting to think it was the girl when a grey (definitely female) Lombax suddenly popped out.

"We need your help!" she said.

…

Aradia's POV

Ever wondered who the rookie pilot was?

Well said rookie has only been on stimulated flight programs and has never had to navigate while flying before. I knew the rookie. The rookie was a freshman at school and I had no idea _she_ was coming on this trip for flight experience.

Olive coloured Humali Cressida was a rookie pilot.

And she was sitting awkwardly next to me, trying to start a conversation. Hidan decided to be a 'gentlemen' and her the window seat so she could get a good view. He promptly fell asleep afterwards.

"So… Aradia," she began. Her voice sounding strained. "What do you think of Mr Leviathan Killer?"

Great way to start a conversation.

Don't get me wrong. Humali was nice and didn't intentionally cheat on Priscilla's boyfriend. (He was cheating on _both _of them and they teamed up to get back at him.) She never really paid any attention to the 'in' crowd, was smart and apparently only died her fur because she really hated the colour.

But she had these bright pale pink eyes that just creeped me out.

I try so hard not to judge her, or too stare too much or be rude or… anything else. It was just Humali. She had that effect on a-lot of Lombaxes.

"He's pretty good looking… I guess…" I answered her. Trying hard not to look directly into her eyes.

"Yeah… It's not often you see a guy with a pilot's build," she said with a smirk.

That brought my attention back. _Pilot's build? _ A leviathan hunter, gladiator, model and pilot?

"What the hell does he do?" I asked aloud to no one in particular.

"Might be a jack of all trades," answered Humali calmly. "Someone who can easily adapt would have a higher chance surviving out here." She gestured to the stars out the window. "Makes you wonder if the most beautiful things that exist in reality are actually the most dangerous."

I looked out into the beautiful starry sky. "Your point being?" I asked

She sighed sadly, "Everyone's come up with their own theories about this guy. This is mine. He looks great and probably has a great personality. But… most likely has the knowledge and ability to defend and destroy. I don't mean to pry Aradia, but the moment that guy finds out he's 'hot' where we're from he's going to use that fact to get information. He would have done it before. He may not even do it intentionally. He will use everything he can get his hands on to get what he needs, information or otherwise." She placed her hand on the window as if reliving some old memory.

I stared at her coldly. "You shouldn't judge a guy based on your observations on a jerk." I told her.

She shook her head. "You misunderstand. He would have developed automatic skills that keep him alive. Ways to talk to others, which weapon for which aliens, how to pilot a military vessel… Those a most likely things he never thinks about anymore. What I'm saying is that he probably is an automatic general, in a way. Doesn't need to be trained. Our leaders are not worried about him, that _want _him. There is no one in our generation who has even _tried out_ for the guard, so why not grab the natural who has no other career path and make him show our ignorant generation how to live again."

I glanced back out the window.

"Think about, Aradia."

Then, she too, drifted to sleep. I just kept my eyes on the stars. Too the general's… was Ratchet just a figure head, a weapon to use against whatever makes us want to stay on the rock? With that in mind, I fell asleep.

**Other than the late update, constructive criticism?**

**Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed, I had no idea this story was that popular. I try my best to get the next chapter up soon!**


	10. Confrontation and Piloting

**Sorry for the late update. I'm finishing up on high school and had to prioritise. Cookies to those who are still reading this. I do hope to eventually finish it, just that I am really busy and finding time to write is difficult.**

**I am going to Europe soon, so I won't be able to post any holiday chapters, but I'll see if I can get one up next term.**

**As always- constructive criticism is welcome.**

**The Ratchet and Clank Universe is owned by Insomniac. Enjoy!**

**Ratchets POV **

Here I was, sitting in the dining hall, watching two strange Lombaxes eating fried leviathan meat as if they never had it before and wondering, _What the hell?_

After realising they were Lombaxes I was just too stunned to really say anything, so I just nodded and pointed to the kitchen when the pink guy asked if they could 'eat then explain'. Clank took over the cooking as they, too, stood wide eyed looking around the place, while I just tried to make sense of their odd behaviour and come to terms with the fact that there were _Lombaxes _in the station before I open my mouth and say something stupid.

Well, I hadn't uttered a word so the two strangers just kept looking around seemingly boggled until Clank came with food.

The girl, I noticed, seemed to be in charge of the two of them. She had a combustor and this 'we need to get stuff done my way' aura. (Yes I have come across this type of person before). If I hadn't just witnessed her horrific flying capabilities I would have assumed she was with the Polaris Defence Force.

The guy, well, he was quiet and_ pink_. As my judgements have been wrong before I decided to keep my mouth shut and keep my impression of him at that before I think he's… yeah, stop there.

I heard Clank plonking in the seat beside me.

"They are rather strange, aren't they?" he said, his voice as neutral as ever.

"You think?" was all I could say back.

The two Lomabax's heads snapped up, their mouths still full of food. The girl swallowed in one big gulp and then gawked.

"He speaks," she said, her strange accent was thick in those words. I'm guessing she hasn't spoken Omniversal for a long time.

"Yeah…" I said with a slight snarl, "And who exactly is 'he' talking too?"

Her ears flattened as if she was hurt at my comment. As if realising that someone should introduce themselves _before_ eating at a stranger's table.

"Sorry, I'm Priscilla Deveron and this is my partner Kilaven." She gestured to the pink guy next to her.

He gulped his food down nervously and gave a nod in my direction.

"We're sorry we disturbed you," she said, shrinking in her seat a bit. Hmmm… Talwyn always said I was intimidating. Didn't think she meant it…

"The disturbance was welcome," I told her, l leaned on the table in an attempt to relax. "Much better than listening to Qwark complain all afternoon."

She looked relived and muttered something in her home tongue to the boy. The boy simply nodded at whatever she said before giving me a nervous smile.

I gave in to my curiosity.

"So, how did you survive Tachyons reign?" I asked.

There was an awkward silence.

"Ah, we didn't," answered the boy. He had been sitting there nervous the whole time, but now his voice really dripped with the anxious emotion. I could swear I was seeing him sweat.

"Okaaay… Then where are you from?" I asked, a bit more curious this time. Must be from some other galaxy…

"That's a better question!" said the girl, a smile adorning her features. " We're from a floating rock in another dimension!"

There was another awkward silence as it sank in.

"Can you please repeat that?"

**Aradia's POV**

I woke to the sleepy, grumbling sound of a jet lagged Hidan. He had these purple bags under his eyes and apparently couldn't get back to sleep because of Ms Jasin's 'crazy flying'. I must have been a bit groggy too because it took me about five minutes to realise we were flying _upside down._

"HOLY LEVIATHAN!" I screamed, suddenly feeling wide awake.

I then felt my body pull back against the seat as it dawned on me that the ship was going _faster._

Humali was still next to me, she seemed to be very stiff and was clinging to the arm rests as if her life depended on it (which it probably did). Her pale eyes were wide with shock and she was panting heavily.

"She's been awake for the past hour," Hidan said. Muttering into my ear. "Poor thing… An hour of flipping, loop de looping and some other tricks I don't want to know about.

I felt really sorry for her too.

Then suddenly, with a quick swerve, the ship was the right way up again and began to slow down slightly. Humali started to look relaxed. This relaxed feeling was immediately broken when Ms Jasin's voice was heard over the intercom.

_Everyone. The Nundac Asteroid Ring is in sight. We will be landing as soon as we get permission from whoever is in charge of the station._

Humali breathed out a sigh of relief. "It's finally over… " she said. I think I saw sweat dripping from her forehead.

Hidan (being Hidan) was looking absolutely distraught at her condition. "Are you alright?"

She gave a slow nod.

The moment of calm however, was interrupted again by Ms Jasin's voice on the intercom.

_Could the youngsters get to the pit, __**now**__!_

We shivered. So did everyone else.

The ship was stable, so walking to the cockpit wasn't a problem. However, having to climb over motion sick Lombaxes and the odd 'vomit spot' was. Humali must have a stomach of iron and I immediately felt respect for the strange Lombax.

The cockpit was no different from the cockpit that Hidan hacked into when we got here. Except this time there was three seats and more buttons. The middle seat was currently being occupied by none other than Ms Jasin while the two pilots on either side of her lay in a mess on the floor.

I couldn't see my father anywhere and Ms Jasin was looking at these glowing floating rocks with a smile.

"Well, Aradia, time for you to meet Ratchet," Her voice shook a little over his name but her expression remained unchanged.

I nodded silently and made my way to the thing labelled 'communicator'.

"I'll hook you up on three… say Transport 12 to Nundac Asteroid Station. Requesting landing permission, permission for others to follow. Do you copy?" she explained further.

I stared at the equipment with nervousness and felt a soft hand behind me, of course, Hidan was giving moral support.

"Three!"

I said the sentence smoothly, in Omniversal. "_Transport vessel 12 to Nundac Asteroid Station. Requesting landing permission, permission for others to follow. Do you copy?"_

A girls voice rang back causing the whole pit to slump. _Nundac Asteroid Station to Vessel 12. Talwyn here. Permission granted for vessel 12. Only one landing pad is available so other vessel's need to hang back. Copy?_

The whole pit slumped further.

_Copy. _ I said back.

_Take the entrance on the northside. See you soon._

A buzzing sound indicated the end of the communication.

"Well, that was disappointing." said Hidan. Really?

A look of disappointment was still on Ms Jasin face, she didn't seem discouraged however.

"Let's go," she said with an evil grin on her face.

The rest of us held on for dear life.

**In the Apogee Space Station **

**Priscilla's POV**

The place was gorgeous. From the 'garden' to the surrounding asteroid ring to the shimmer of glowing crystal things or leviathans in the background, no wonder Ratchet lived here.

Speaking of him. The guy took the news surprisingly well. As well as any other person would after learning that their species believes them to be a traumatic lost cause and wants them to return home or lead them to coming back to their home dimension.

He was sitting there quiet. Staring at the table, trying to come to terms with the offer. After all, it was BIG ask.

'Clank' was also quiet, looking as if he knew what was coming.

"I…" Ratchet began, looking grim."I…"

"Why don't you wait for the generals to get here, then you only have to say it once," Kilaven interjected. My thoughts, _You idiot!_

"That would be best…" said Ratchet, looking relieved.

A beeping sound was heard, a really annoying tune that was a mix between a pop music and a robot. Ratchet pressed the button on a device near the bottom of his ear, which I thought was some sort of weird dimensional jewellery, and spoke up.

"What's up Tal? I've got two guests at the moment and more on the way."

A female voice spoke back. "_Guests!? You mean Lombaxes. I can pick a Lombax ship when I see one Ratchet and the others landing in the loading bay as we speak. Holy Leviathan, they have one heck of a pilot!"_

"Better than the first one?"

I glared at him for that sarcastic comment. Then realised, in shock horror, Ms Jasin would have said the exact same thing.

"_If managing to do loop de loops through an asteroid ring and getting to the bay in less than a minute is better, than yes."_

Kilaven and I looked at each other wide eyed. _Loop de loops…_

Ratchet gave a smirk. "I have to meet this pilot."

"_You will soon. Want me to do the introductions?"_

He looked thoughtful for a bit, "If you could, I don't want to play host with more Lombaxes than I can handle, especially since there's a few generals on board."

"_Copy that. See you at dinner. Talwyn out."_

"Back at ya."

He looked up to us and gave us an all too familiar evil grin. (One that admittedly looked better on his face).

"Care for a tour of the station?"

Kilaven and I looked at each, both wondering what we were in for.

**In the landing bay, Aradia's POV**

Everyone on board, with the exception Humali and Ms Jasin, were in a mixed state of queasiness and shock while trying to forget the worst minute of their lives. The whole ship had been thrown around as if it was in a washing machine and everyone else looked as if they were in the laundry. Even my father had to run to the bathroom, which already had a long line up.

I was holding up okay. Queasy and a little dizzy, but okay. Hidan was seemed alright, except for the look of horror on his face. Humali looked as if she's been through it a hundred.

The only person with a smile on their face was Ms Jasin. Her son lived in the very station we parked at and I bet she was ecstatic to be so close to meeting him in person.

As such, she was the first one out.

"YOUNGSTERS! YOUR GONNA LOVE THIS!" she yelled back.

The three of us slowly staggered outside then, surprisingly, the view practically stunned us out of queasiness.

The docking bay towered above our heads in a dome like structure, easily the highest roof I have ever seen. The whole area was made of a clear material of some kind, giving a clear view of the stars and floating rocks around the station. To my right was a raised level with two sets of stairs leading up to it. I could make out some fancy equipment on the higher floor that I had never seen before.

Ms Jasin was right. This was amazing.

"Wonderful isn't it!" Speak of the devil, she was right behind me. "He lives well. That's for sure."

Turning around I saw this motherly look in her eyes. Sparkling with anticipation and pride, this is the place her son called home. Hidan was standing next to her, trying to look straight up, his head craned back so far it looked like he was going to fall over. Humali was wide eyed, lying on the floor to get a good view of the ceiling.

"Yes, mam. He certainly does," Humali said.

The other Lombax started to stagger out the vessel. Each one having the same reaction as we did. Well, each one except for the generals who at seen this type of thing before and couldn't understand what the commotion was about.

I don't think I will forget the moment I saw another sapient being that wasn't a Lombax. It happened at about that moment.

She was at the top of the stairs. She had pale coloured skin and was wearing green combat gear with a red bandana. The only hair on her body was her shoulder length brown hair held back with a second bandana and from where I was standing I could make out a long red tail that ended in the spike.

Needless to say I was somewhat terrified.

The being was casually leaning on the stair railings watching us and I had no idea how to react.

Ms Jasin called out to her, causing me to jump. She spoke to her in Omniversal.

"_Markazian, who are you and what is your role here?"_ she yelled up.

The 'Markazian' smiled and walked slowly down the stairs while answering Ms Jasin question.

"_My name is Talwyn Apogee and this is my father's station. It is currently used as more of a home for me and my friends rather than a research centre, though."_ Contrary to her appearance her voice was soft. _"I'm going to take a guess and say you're the group the other two are with."_ She then gestured to the vessel 14 behind vessel 12.

Hidan, to my astoundment, was the next to call up.

"_Where are those two anyway Ms Apogee?"_ he yelled, causing me to wince slightly at his recklessness.

Her smile grew even wider. _"There with Ratchet, I believe he is giving them a 'tour' of the place along with the president," _she explained.

Naturally everyone in the unit, about 20 Lombaxes, glared at invisible versions of the dynamic duo. Who were apparently enjoying spending time with the person we looking for and making us wait.

The frustration didn't last long however, as a blood curdling scream filled the air. This was followed by two familiar terrified faces bolting towards us at record pass followed by this big green guy in an expensive looking suit. They whizzed right passed us and hid behind one of the vessel.

Talwyn just broke into hysterical laughter and I swore I heard a more masculine version of it coming from the room that was just broken out of. Ms Jasin was the only one of the group to join in on the strange sense of humour.

"_That never gets old,"_ Talwyn managed in between spouts of uncontrollable laughter.

As if on cue, Mr Hotshot appeared at the door entrance in an absolute laughing fit with this 'I swear I've done this a million time for fun' look on. Looking as he did on the film, but in more detail. I could see the sparkling signs of life in his bright green eyes and how much better he looked in comfortable clothes than I ever will. Those ads really were unedited, he looked so perfect in real life, identical to Kaden. From the way his ears pointed to the movement of his tail, he looked fit and healthy and ready to take on the world.

At the sight of him, Ms Jasin went silent.

**DUN DUN DUUUUUN! What do you think?**

**I want the next chapter to be based on Ms Jasin's perspective of the whole situation and how she goes about Ratchet and the life he has lived.**

**Spoilers! Ratchet has a surprise of his own **

**As I feel this is important, I'll try and get this chapter done before Europe. **

**Thx for reading!**


	11. The Meeting

**Sorry about the wait! I was hammered with senior assignments the moment I got back and they haven't stopped! I've been writing this 30-40 words at a time because of it, but its here! Thank you for waiting. I will be finishing school in under three months, so expect about five chapters around then **

**Enjoy!**

**Ms Jasin's POV (all language in Omniversal)**

There he was. Laughing like a lunatic. The sound was one of the most beautiful things I had ever heard. When I heard of his survival, I never believed I would see him smiling and laughing till we got him home to the dimension. I had been prepping myself for this moment since I got the letter, expecting for him to be severely traumatised or trying to kill me. Nightmares was what filled my nights. Nightmares on the condition he would be in when I saw him for the first time in 21 years.

Yet, here he was. In better condition than most of the children in his generation. He looked as handsome and as strong as his father, but just from this little scene I could tell he had my sense of humour.

I wanted to run up to him and hold him and tell him everything. About his father, about myself, about the other dimension… everything. More importantly, I wanted to learn about him. What has been up to for the past 21 years? What type of man has he become?

What does he think of me?

But all I could do was stand still and look at him. Trying not to burst into tears.

"That wasn't funny!" yelled a still shaky Priscilla, who had just poked her head from around vessel 14.

He laughed even harder and tried to reply. "Nope, it was downright hilarious! I can't believe you fell for it!"

The green guy popped out as well. He was the president? Looked more like a second rate superhero in a tuxedo.

I turned back to my smiling son and grinned to myself. He had the guts to scare the wits out of the President of Polaris. I couldn't be more proud.

He was now taking deep breaths to calm himself down.

A little robot then came from the door, walking over at a steady pace. Obviously an advanced piece of technology. He stopped at the top of the stairs to get a good view of us, then his green eyes settled on the president.

"President Qwark, do not look like that. You know he takes you in there every time you come over," he said, his metallic voice echoing throughout the depot.

The green guy looked up at him sadly, "For the sake of the galaxy, I'll do anything! Even go into that God forsaken room!" He shivered at the last part.

Ratchet looked over at him, a gleeful shine in his eyes. "I always ask if you want to look and you always say 'yes'," he said.

"You said it was new!" yelled up the president. Was this guy really that dumb?

"It's six months young if that's what you mean," Ratchet replied. Casually leaning up against the door. His eyes once cheerful started becoming more stern as he summed up the other Lombaxes in the room. His eyes diverting between faces.

"Ratchet, I'll be heading out," said Talwyn, looking at him sternly. "Behave."

Ratchet gave her a curt nod before she teleported to who knows where. He then looked down at us.

"What brings you Lombaxes?" he asked. His body going still. Kaden use to do the same thing when he was trying to relax, sadly it made him appear intimidating. General Vadin began to stiffen, unsurprisingly, he was very untrusting. He began to walk forward to talk on behalf of the Lombaxes.

"Is there a better place to talk?" he asked.

Ratchet gave a small smile. "The dining hall is just in here." He looked at Kilaven and Priscilla. "You two coming?"

The two shook their heads simultaneously.

He turned back to the group and gestured towards the door. "Follow me!"

I decided to take the back and braced myself. I've felt this temperament before and I knew he was about to pull a stunt. Whatever it was, I completely supported it. I smiled inwardly, this was going to be great!

"Uhh… Ms Jasin?"

I turned and saw the three other youngsters following me. Although it was Aradia who was addressing me, a rather decent you girl compared the other fluoro Lombaxes in my classes if I do say so myself.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

I smiled. "Of course I am, now let's go see what that commotion was about."

Walking forward I could hear them stepping into pace behind me.

Following the generals, I took the liberty to look around the place. IT WAS HUGE! Why so much space was needed was beyond me. We were currently walking down a hallway that was way too big than what it should be and clearly walking _down_.

"_Oh Ratchet, what are you planning." _I thought.

From at the back I couldn't see him, but I was starting to see a large black door. When I say large, I mean about 20m high. It had a beautiful leviathan caved into it, curled up into sphere, with a blue glowing crystal placed in just the right places to make it perfect.

The door was opening and I could see the generals walking inside and of course we all followed. The room itself was pitch black, I couldn't see squat. That is, until I heard a whistle.

What happened next was a blur.

I heard screaming and then felt bodies running past me for the door. As the Lombaxes cleared out, I slowly got the view of _blue glowing Leviathan eggs._ The eggs were beautiful and had, surprisingly, elegant detail on them.

What wasn't so nice was the mother staring black daggers at us.

Normally I would run, most would, but years married to an engineering genius allowed me to see an obvious force field in front of her.

I cracked up laughing.

"What is THAT!" asked Hidan in disbelief. He was good with technology, so I wasn't surprised he picked up on it. Aradia was clinging to him in shock.

"Is that…" she began, starting to shake a little.

"…a Leviathan? Yes."

The lights turned on and we could now see we were standing on a platform area, one that looked over into a massive room full of Leviathans. All of which were glaring at the Lombaxes on the platform.

We spun round to see Ratchet with a wicked grin on his face. He nodded in our direction. "Sorry about that. It's protocol to take new arrivals in here first."

"Protocol?" Aradia asked hesitantly.

"If the power goes off, the force field goes down. Don't want inexperienced fighters walking in _here_ during a power outage," he answered, his grin growing wider.

"That's brillant!" I jumped at the sound of Humali, who was standing forgotten next to me, staring back at the beasts with a smile of fascination. Her brows then narrowed in confusion as she walked closer to the edge of platform. "Perfect excuse for a perfect prank. But what's this room for anyway?"

Ratchet turned to her and stared in shock and for a moment I was thinking it was because of Humali's appearance. She must have thought so too because she cowered a bit under his stare. I was just about to hit him (As a mother should) when he said, "You're the first outsider to EVER ask that question! Most just run away and refuse to talk about it."

He eyed her suspiciously and walked over to her, looking at her straight in the eye. "Nerves of steel much?" He asked.

Her downward glance must have confirmed his suspicion, what he said next made me blink in surprise. "Awesome. Don't see a lot of girls in the pilot's seat."

He gestured to the room. "This place is the Leviathan Viewing Room, or the LVR, and is used to keep track of their population so we know when to do a cull. Back when this place was a research base, this room was used to bring in creatures… of the larger variety. Hence, the massive doors." He dramatically waved over to the entrance behind him. "So much time and effort was spent building that thing… we didn't have the heart to take it down."

Humali, having gotten over her uneasiness smiled. "Also adds dramatic effect," she stated.

Ratchet grinned back at her. "Exactly."

I just shook my head. No son of mine was going to pass up an opportunity to scare the wits out of unsuspecting outsiders. Especially if the main part of the plan couldn't be removed.

We heard a slight cough from the entrance and spun round. General Vadin was looking at Ratchet a bit more fondly this time round. He too, cracked a smile. "You're going to have to explain that again to the others. They're hiding in the vessels and refuse to come out."

….

**Clank's POV (in the other room)**

The Lombaxes had come screaming out the room as calculated and ran into one of the vessels. To think that this was derived from the unpleasant experience of a house inspector… I chuckled.

The group was… strange. I was processed to believe that they would be more like Alister or Ratchet, brave, reasonably intelligent and unafraid of anything. With an interest in anything technological and a deep desire to roam the universe and experience everything.

I needed to delete this image from my hard drive.

The majority of the group was male, varying in colour from the expected sand browns and whites to the illogical blues, pinks and purples. They were all in varying combat gear yet seemed to lack the 'stand your ground and fight' training module that Ratchet and Alister always used. Then again, they didn't exactly stand and fight when Tachyon invaded.

Hmmmm… Maybe the past 21 years spent on a 'rock', as Priscilla called it, has over complicated the safety of this dimension. Then again, compared to a rock, the galaxy would be a bit more complicated.

The Lombax that spoke before, a General I believe had just stopped in front of the vessel. He muttered something under his breath in his home tongue and slapped a hand on his head. Note: need to download Lombax language translation. He then took a deep breath and turned to look at me.

"What was all that about?" he asked, slightly confused and still out of breath. His were pleading for an answer. Then his ears pricked straight up and in a panic yelled. "Aradia is still in there!"

I tried to supress a chuckle. Even my core system could see how illogical his rationing was. "She is fine sir; there is nothing dangerous about the prank. Even if there was Ratchet could probably take a multitude of Leviathans blind folded, so she would be perfectly safe."

He then looked slightly angry. "You make it sound like he culls those things every day. Why would he scare the wits out of us like that?"  
>I chuckled then. "He does do the culling by himself and I believe he does that to every outsider that comes here. It is quiet humorous. Knowing him, he probably doesn't believe you Lombaxes are an exception to the rule."<p>

Still looking annoyed, he glared at me and asked , "Are you sure my daughter's okay round that maniac?"

I tilted my head in confusion, why would a general bring his daughter along?

"Ratchet is probably the most protective being in this station. I am sure she is in great hands." I answered.

He rolled his eyes slightly and muttered, "I'll go and make sure."

He turned back towards the ship and yelled out something in his tongue that sounded like, 'Anyone coming with me?'

The resounding groan was enough to tell me that 'no' was the answer.

**Humali's POV**

Ratchet was explaining the stunt for the uptenth time to the Lombaxes hiding out in the vessel. His originally cheerful face was starting to look more annoyed each time he had to say it. Couldn't blame the guy, they _still_ refused to come out. Even Priscilla and Kilaven (who I was refusing to talk to at this moment) were trying to coax them out.

I understand that most of the Lombaxes were only about five years older than me and probably had more of a fear of leviathans since they lived in this dimension once before. But seriously, it was a harmless prank!

Aradia was next to me rolling her eyes and Hidan was just looking ashamed. They tried helping out earlier without any success. The General and Ms Jasin were translating Ratchet's words into Lombax in hopes that they will understand.

Nope.

"Screw them," Ratchet said. Clearly giving up. "We'll talk without them."

"We could just talk here," said Aradia. "They could still here us then."

Ratchet looked back at her, eyes slightly more steely than usual, and body a bit more stiff. "I have a lot to explain to you guys, not just about me but about what's happened over the past three decades and I am not wasting my breath on a bunch of cowards."

Strangely, it wasn't the harsh tone of his voice that caught my attention.

"Three decades?" I asked, "Aren't you 21?"

He looked at me funny, apparently startled by the completely unrelated question that came out of the blue. Then his eyes widened.

"Aren't you 28-29?" he asked.

I furrowed my eyes. Apparently having pale eyes makes my glare more effective, I think it creeps people out, but Ratchet didn't even seemed phased. "I asked first,"

He lowered his head and sighed, "Nope. 29 in three Galactic months."

Ms Jasin stopped what she was doing and looked over at him cautiously.

I shook my head. "You sure?" I asked. "Because your tracker activates when you turn 21 and yours has only started sending signals recently."

He looked at me confused and everyone else looked at _him_ confused. Aradia looked over to me with the same _I don't believe it_ face. She then faced Ratchet again.

"Ratchet," she asked, the name crisp on her tongue. "When did you start working?"

"I've been working since I was 17, over 11 Galactic years ago." He said slowly. "In all sorts of… fields."

This made everyone stand on end.

"Really? You're biologically my age and only a few years older than Humali here." Aradia gestured to me. I could feel myself blush a little when Ratchet looked my way and scanned me up and down.

"That's what I thought," he said. Calm as ever.

"We haven't even left school yet," she continued.

Aradia has always been incredibly smart and easy to read, even to someone like me who was three years younger. The look on her face told me everything she was thinking. By the sound of it, a Lombax year was roughly two thirds of Ratchet's 'galactic' year. If he started working at 17… assuming he graduated that year… then using basic maths. My eyes widened.

Ratchet completed school when he was around 11.

Ratchet cracked one of his crazy grins. "Sucks to be you guys then."

Everyone started to stare at him as the realisation struck them.

He frowned and turned to me, "Did I do something completely offensive?" he asked. The tension still in the air.

I just shook my head in silence, looking at him in awe. He was as smart as his father.

He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "To the dining room then."

…

**Hope you enjoyed it! Cookies for everyone who got this far. Don't expect anything from me for at LEAST a month, maybe longer. It's a busy time of year.**

**As always, constructive criticism greatly appreciated!**


End file.
